About Us
Pre-emptive
We believe that one can pre-empt
a future outcome by utilising
a system of proven techniques
and a team of experts who specialise
in the science of uncertainty.
Precise
We exact, accurate, correct,
error-free, specific, detailed,
unambiguous, definitive, particular,
rigorous, strict, and methodical.
Actuarial science is any and
all of the above.
Practical
We aim to provide realistic solutions
to complex problems with a long
term forward look.
We have embraced New Technology and Revolutionary Concepts
Read all about us here
New technology enables actuaries to perform their services independently and offsite
- With clients under pressure to reduce costs, leading to reduced actuarial departments.
- Global shortage of actuaries means a new Virtual workforce of actuaries is the future of work.
Virtual Actuary has developed a new successful concept for delivering actuarial services to clients
- VA can match or exceed quality levels of existing consultancies without incurring costs and obligations inherent with fixed staff.
Quality assurance at the forefront of priorities
- Operational team responsible for diligent scoping of projects and matching best staff to client requirements.
- Strict and controlled peer review system.
- Staff leverage a global knowledge and experience base for support.
- Seasoned project and delivery managers put in place where required.
- Monthly feedback sessions with clients by directors.
Disrupting the Market
- Scalable network of actuaries – Senior actuaries in the VA system leverage the use of other junior actuaries.
- In-Depth Industry experience.
- Lean business model – Using programs like Zoom and Slack our actuaries are able to consult digitally.
- Lower charge to global clients, higher fees to Virtual Actuaries – No expensive offices and over 82% of the client fee going to the actuaries .
VA builds its initial success on a unique ability to attract both client business and actuarial talent
- Clients know VA partners as highly skilled and trustworthy.
- Actuarial talent know VA from long term relationships built over 10 years.
Actuarial industry has traditionally been slow to change
- In-house actuaries utilising legacy systems which are slow and cumbersome.
- Traditional consulting businesses with high earning partners at the top and lower level actuaries working long hours.
Due to low-cost base
- VA can offer its actuaries increased flexibility and higher remuneration for their services.
IFRS17
Here you will find all the latest news and info regarding IFRS17.
IFRS17 policy and methodology
- We can provide a list of IFRS17 policy and methodology choices that you have to make
- Drafting of P&M papers
- P&M investigations and Impact assessment of various P&M choices
IFRS17 architectural design and business requirements
- Identifying new components required
- Identifying existing components that can be leveraged
- Drafting a target operating model under the new IFRS17 environment
IFRS17 vendor assessments
- Assisting with drafting requests for proposals to IFRS17 vendors
- Summarising the architectural components offered by various vendors from vendor proposals
- Proposing combinations of components from various vendors that will fill the gaps in your current systems architecture
IFRS17 vendor implementation (configuration and validation)
- Assisting with understanding data input requirements
- Assisting with the initial transformation of data to vendor input requirements
- Assisting with configuration of the system
- Drafting testing strategies for user acceptance testing
- Hands-on help with automating the functional testing process
IFRS17 Software - Data - Models
IFRS17 data transformations & ETL automation
- Building robust data staging platforms
- Assisting with establishing the logic required to transform company data to vendor specific input formats
- Automating data transformations with the latest software on the market
IFRS17 CSM prototype model builds
- We offer ready to use CSM prototype models
- We can also assist with building CSM prototype models
- We can assist with leveraging current models you have internally to develop your own CSM prototype models
IFRS17 transition software (to automate transition calculations)
- Assistance with developing a transition strategy
- Assistance with managing the data required for transition calculations
- We provide ready to use software which can automate the IFRS17 roll-forward calculations from inception to transition date
Services
We are Specialists of Actuarial, Insurance & Risk, Investments and Advanced Analytics services.
SERVICES IN DETAIL
Here is a full breakdown of the areas we cover. Please click on a heading to expand.
IFRS17
Services we offer:
IFRS17 policy and methodology
- We can provide a list of IFRS17 policy and methodology choices that you have to make
- Drafting of P&M papers
- P&M investigations and Impact assessment of various P&M choices
IFRS17 architectural design and business requirements
- Identifying new components required
- Identifying existing components that can be leveraged
- Drafting a target operating model under the new IFRS17 environment
IFRS17 vendor assessments
- Assisting with drafting requests for proposals to IFRS17 vendors
- Summarising the architectural components offered by various vendors from vendor proposals
- Proposing combinations of components from various vendors that will fill the gaps in your current systems architecture
IFRS17 vendor implementation (configuration and validation)
- Assisting with understanding data input requirements
- Assisting with the initial transformation of data to vendor input requirements
- Assisting with configuration of the system
- Drafting testing strategies for user acceptance testing
- Hands-on help with automating the functional testing process
IFRS17 data transformations & ETL automation
- Building robust data staging platforms
- Assisting with establishing the logic required to transform company data to vendor specific input formats
- Automating data transformations with the latest software on the market
IFRS17 CSM prototype model builds
- We offer ready to use CSM prototype models
- We can also assist with building CSM prototype models
- We can assist with leveraging current models you have internally to develop your own CSM prototype models
IFRS17 transition software (to automate transition calculations)
- Assistance with developing a transition strategy
- Assistance with managing the data required for transition calculations
- We provide ready to use software which can automate the IFRS17 roll-forward calculations from inception to transition date
NON-LIFE GENERAL INSURANCE
Reserving, Capital modelling, Pricing, Risk management and Solvency II
We provide a full and comprehensive service offering covering among other things:
- Traditional triangulation reserving models and exposure based methods when claims experience is unreliable or inappropriate
- Calculation of Technical Provisions for Solvency II and SAM
- Implementation of reserving and technical provision processes in a range of platforms
- Stochastic reserving methods including ultimate one-year reserve risk views
- Assessment of the impact of IFRS 17
Capital modelling
- Stochastic and other non-stochastic capital modelling techniques
- Calibration of premium and reserve risk models for Solvency II and SAM
- Implementation of capital models in a range of platforms
- Methods used in the market-leading catastrophe models
- Methods used by proprietary Economic Scenario Generators (ESGs)
- Capital allocation methods
- PPO modelling methods
- Optimization of outward reinsurance
Pricing
- Traditional personal and or commercial lines and London Market pricing techniques
- Stochastic pricing methods for pricing reinsurance or complex commercial risks
- Creation of pricing analytics for underwriters and management
- Creation of connected pricing models online or with full database support
- Optimisation methods for pricing and portfolio re-balancing
- Application of machine learning techniques for pricing and portfolio segmentation
Risk management and Solvency II / SAM
- Design and implementation of capital model validation
- Standard formula calculations and commonly accepted approaches
- Solvency II legislation and Internal Model Application Process requirements
- Lloyd’s and PRA reporting requirements such as Lloyd’s Capital Returns and Quantitative Reporting Templates
- Construction of Solvency II and SAM documents, such as policies, frameworks, logs or reports
- Effective communication of risk information from capital models or other risk indicators to Risk Committees and Boards
BANKING
The Banking team is almost ready to go to market
We’ll be launching this team as part of Virtual Actuary very soon hopefully.
INVESTMENTS
Below is a list of services we can offer on the investment side:
We have access to a variety of top actuarial investment experts and juniors, and projects we have been involved in have been far from standard; involving inter alia big data sets, unconventional assets and locum positions. We have become adept at doing the weird, messy and difficult jobs which nobody else wants.
Locums
- Providing experts to temporarily occupy empty positions in corporates (e.g. whilst hiring).
- If needed, the locum may document the processes and people involved in the position, for easy transition, and permanent storage of intellectual capital.
Unit Trusts:
- Investigating Asset Liability Mismatches
- Calculating per client adjustments to make to correctly compensate for historical transactional errors, and unit pricing errors. We are experienced at working with big datasets.
- Setting fees, setting up funds[1]
- Managing co-naming / co-branding / white labelled agreements
- Engaging FSCA regarding the regulatory environment
- Platform management & improvement[2]
- Assessing & improving overall fund offering[3]
Fee Disclosures:
- Disclosure: Calculating TERs and transitions costs
Market Research:
- For new and existing investment fields
- Setting up capabilities for new investment fields
Liability Driven Investments
- Market Research
- Proposing, building and Reviewing models
- Marketing & sales advice
Alternative Investments
Future Studies
Peer reviews
Complex calculations
Transition Management
[1] FSCA actions, administrators, determining launch TER, … [2] For example, IT interface, fund fact sheets, member queries, graphing and other displays, etc [3] For example, the Mandate
LIFE INSURANCE
Individual and Group Life
We provide a full and comprehensive service offering covering among other things:
Product Development:
Product Development of new innovative products.
Product knowledge for the following countries: Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa
Products include: Group and Individual for Life and Funeral cover, Credit Life cover, Pension Fund investment, Disability, PHI, Dread Disease & other riders, Micro insurance and mobile solutions providers, health insurance.
Financial Reporting:
Valuations including statutory valuation responsibility for life assurer, reinsurer, friendly society, cell captive or start-up insurers
SAM / Solvency II implementation and review
- Solvency Capital Requirement
- Internal model
- Own Risk Solvency Assessment
Embedded value calculations
IFRS17 formulation, preparation and implementation
- Policy and methodology
- Architectural design and business requirements
- Vendor assessments
- Vendor implementation (configuration and validation)
- Data transformations & ETL automation
- CSM prototype model builds
- Transition software (to automate transition calculations)
Reinsurance:
Advising and implementing reinsurance arrangements to enable efficient capital management
Risk and capital management:
Asset liability modelling, liquidity and market risk management
Economic Capital Modelling and Risk Capital Allocation and optimisation
Software:
Support in using and managing actuarial cash flow modelling systems (Prophet, MoSes, RiskAgility).
WIDER FIELDS, TELCO AND ADVANCED ANALYTICS
Advanced Analytics as an X factor
At Virtual Actuary, our advanced data analytics team takes your data security extremely seriously. We use end to end encryption, secure and POPIA-compliant storage facilities; which have strict, legally enforceable privacy policies as well as secure data management policies which are resistant to social engineering. Your data will be so safe, you might want to keep it with us.
Our philosophy with advanced data analytics is that the results must affect your bottom line. Vanity metrics and dash boards which do not engage with or enhance business decision making are, at best, a waste of your time and money. We deliver products that integrate into your business seamlessly; providing insights which positively affect either growth, revenue and/or savings. We strive for results that will become a standard part of your operations and ongoing quest for business excellence.
A major part of advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence adoption within your business involves risk. Often, the solutions we provide have never been done before and this is the nature of innovation. As such, our risk management strategy involves high-frequency feedback (typically every week) as well as key data driven metrics which quantify the potential of the project to be a success (from a return on investment perspective) at every stage of development.
Our team has an eclectic skill set and has experience from a wide range of industries. From cybersecurity, marketing and advertising, engineering and software development to private equity and strategy consulting. We offer a mature, fully-featured, and extremely technically skilled service. We have developed algorithms that optimise advertising spend and customer lead acquisition, we have engineered automatic pricing systems, we can infer proprietary information using only publicly available data and have expertise in automatic fraud detection methods.
Our goal is to assist you with your journey through the 21st century’s industrial revolution and to partner with you in delivering world-class value to your customers and shareholders.
We are proud to design and implement financially and ethically responsible artificial intelligence products.
HEALTHCARE
Healthcare
We would be delighted to discuss any of following:
- Estimation of IBNR (Incurred but not reported) Claim Liabilities, loss ratio and claims utilisation studies, reserving and modelling
- Assisting, refining and developing pricing methodology and best practices and assessing impact studies, processes for in-force business including experience analysis
- Various experience formulas and applications including determining appropriate stop loss rates, demographic and claims experience
- Forecasting of future premium claims based on various deductibles, environmental changes, regulatory changes, new or generic drug availability, new available procedures as well as risk adjustment enhancements
- Creating of various models taking into account trends, payment levels and selection issues, advice on amendments to regulations and legislation
- Post- Retirement Medical Aid Valuations: Performing entire valuations process from start to finish, including data requests, calculations, checking and drafting of the valuation report
- Working with underwriters and various business units to apply models specific to groups
- Working with business units to determine where new business rate levels should be set, and which renewal increases roll over from existing arrangements
- Development of a range of risk management and managed care programs to drive claim cost down and improve healthcare outcomes for patients
- Redesigning and costing of service provider tariffs or reimbursement models
- Developing dynamic activity-based costing and demand models
- Interacting on all Health Reinsurance matters including risk sharing arrangements
OUR TEAM OF GLOBAL ACTUARIES
ARE READY TO BECOME YOUR
ACTUARIAL RESOURCE
Our Team
Our team of experts offers a comprehensive range of actuarial services founded on a depth of experience acquired locally and globally.
Johan Vrolijk
Co-CEO
“I do actuarial stuff.”
Jacques Naude
Principal Data Scientist
“I’ll help you get the data to make sense.”
Pierre Chandre Pelser
Life and Big Data Actuary – Manager
“Being an actuary is a privilege. I want to make a difference in the lives of South Africans.”
Andrew Sharpe
Global head of Life, Reinsurance and ERM
“Let’s really talk about Enterprise Risk, Solvency and other fun related topics.”
Andre Erasmus
IFRS17 Implementation
“Passionate about IFRS17 and getting you over the line before 2023!”
Rob Baker
Overseeing Investment
Team
“A seasoned Investment professional who enjoys the challenge in everything he does.”
Jessica Blignaut
Quants and Risk Analyst
“Each assignment will impact so many people’s lives, how amazing is that!”
Theunis Johann Van Rooyen
Life and Big Data Manager and Mentor
“Actuaries consulting virtually makes perfect sense to me.”
Thinus van der Merwe
Life Product Design and Pricing Manager
“Achieving a structured solution which makes company and client happy, is the goal.”
AN AWARD WINNING CONSULTANCY
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