A dynamic and growing area of the actuarial profession, actuaries working in general insurance apply principles of statistics and probability – and increasingly data science and machine learning – to 3 distinct (but connected) areas:
General insurance is also known as ‘non-life’ or ‘property and casualty’ and encompasses a range of coverage types – effectively anything that is not life or health insurance – that protect the insured against damage to property, and/or liability for damage, injury, or economic loss to others.
Examples range from the familiar personal motor or home insurance policies to highly specialised, large, and complex commercial risks.
The Brian Hey Prize 2024 is now closed for submissions and the prize winner will be announced at GIRO on 19 November.
The prize has a great history in helping to highlight practical and helpful research for members in the general insurance practice area. Each year, it is awarded at the GIRO conference for best paper.
Explore all the IFoA’s active general insurance research working parties.
The IFoA’s General Insurance Board is a member-led board of senior volunteer actuaries that actively influences the environment in which general insurance actuaries practice. It advises the IFoA on important general insurance issues and sets key objectives annually.
Further information for volunteers, including tips on how to chair a meeting, can be found in our volunteer information pack.
Membership is drawn from a broad cross-section of the general insurance community to ensure full coverage of all general insurance-related issues. In 2024 to 2025, its members are:
The board operates within a terms of reference (PDF, 150 KB). Through the following key purposes, it supports the IFoA’s Council in the delivery of its corporate strategy. The board aims to:
The General Insurance Board has oversight of and is supported by the:
The GILL Committee is responsible to the General Insurance Board for all matters relating to CPD being undertaken by the general insurance practice area and development of the IFoA’s annual offering of general insurance conferences and seminars, including the flagship GIRO conference.
The GILL Committee has key objectives which include:
GILL task and person specification (81 KB PDF)
The GILL Committee operates within a terms of reference (57.4 KB PDF). It supports the IFoA’s Council in the delivery of its corporate strategy.
For those who could not attend GIRO, we are pleased to offer recordings of some of the sessions which are available to purchase, download and view from your device. To find out more, visit the IFoA's Virtual Learning Environment.
The GIRTL Committee is responsible to the General Insurance Board for all matters relating to research and thought leadership, specifically within the general insurance practice area.
The GIRTL Committee’s main objectives are to ensure relevance and research for the general insurance community and consider new and emerging research over a continuous time horizon. The work of the committee is split into four workstreams:
The GIRTL Committee operates within a terms of reference (57.1 KB PDF). It supports the IFoA’s Council in the delivery of its corporate strategy.
GIRTL is supported by research groups as follows:
The committee is seeking comments and assessing interest from members of the general insurance actuarial community on a range of areas to research.
After considering the community’s responses, the committee will begin the process of putting together appropriate volunteering teams to carry out what is hoped to be rewarding research work.
We look forward to hearing your thoughts on these questions through our email address girtl@actuaries.org.uk.
You could of course contact any of us in person. Who would the research be useful for? Are these the right questions? How do these questions link with existing research output? How should we go about answering them and how would you help?
A short survey has been set up to assess your interest levels for volunteering to carry out the research. You will be asked to provide your name, email address, and which topics you would be interested in helping. A free text box is available for you to tell us how you may like to participate. Another question relates to any other future-looking topics that would be useful to look into.
Survey: GIRTL Commissioning Research 2023 to 2024
For the work to go onto the next stages, it would be helpful to have your views and hear of your interest before 10 November 2023. But of course, the committee is always happy to hear from you on all matters relating to general insurance research, even on these topics after this specific date. Complete the survey.
The General Insurance Standards and Consultations Committee ensures that regulation relating to general insurance is kept up to date and help to provide general insurance actuarial input into government and regulatory policy.
The committee:
Membership is drawn from a spectrum of senior actuaries with experience in addressing policy issues, and maintaining standards.
The committee operates within a terms of reference as laid out in the IFoA’s governance manual.
GIROC reports on all matters relating to the profession in connection with the practice and process of reserve estimation for general insurance business.
The work of the group is directed by the themes of:
The group achieves this both via its working parties and through events. Events we have planned are:
Membership is drawn from a broad cross-section of the general insurance community to ensure full coverage of all reserving issues
The group operates within a terms of reference (34.4 KB Word doc).
The London Market provides a focus for many insurance companies and syndicates operating under a Lloyd’s of London banner to write large commercial risks such as supermarkets, football players, and other very specific risks.
The London Market consists of several insurers, reinsurers, brokers, and other companies that are typically physically located in the City of London. Their business is usually written through specialist brokers. The London Market participates in personal and commercial lines, domestic and foreign. It also provides reinsurance.
For more information about any of our practice areas, please email the Communities Engagement Team
