Chartered actuary designation introduced for IFoA-qualified actuaries

12 November 2024

The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) has now introduced chartered actuary designation for all IFoA Fellow members and IFoA Associate members.

Following a consultation in late 2022, IFoA members voted to adopt chartered actuary designation. Currently, anyone can call themselves an actuary, but this chartered status is legally protected. This means that only qualified members of the IFoA will be able to call themselves a chartered actuary.

The benefits of adopting the chartered actuary designation include:

  • Increasing recognition of the qualification level achieved by IFoA qualified actuaries.
  • Communicating IFoA actuaries’ level of professionalism, knowledge and expertise.
  • Offering protection to the public, by differentiating between highly qualified actuaries and those who call themselves actuaries without having gone through the same high-level training.

The chartered actuary designation retains the distinction between Fellows and Associates, in both long-form title and post-nominals. As before, Associateship recognises qualification as an actuary at a generalist level, and Fellowship remains the IFoA’s highest level of qualification.

Kartina Tahir Thomson, President of the IFoA, said:

“Chartered Actuary designation is a reflection of the extraordinarily high standards and the exceptional professional knowledge, ethics and practice adopted by Fellow and Associate members of the IFoA.

“Chartered status will better communicate the globally recognised level of training and professionalism and the range of expertise that members of the IFoA bring to the table, as well as the value actuaries bring to the organisations with which they work and to society as a whole.”

David Currie, Chair of the IFoA Board, said:

“Actuaries are highly qualified professionals who carry out incredibly important work, yet many people are unaware of what they do. Chartered actuary status is a way of increasing the profile of the actuarial profession and signifying to the people they work with that actuaries are trusted, capable and highly trained professionals.”

Ben Kemp, IFoA CEO (interim), said:

“The launch of the chartered actuary designation marks a significant milestone for the actuarial profession. Similar to other industries where chartered status indicates that an individual has successfully completed rigorous education, training and testing, we want actuaries to receive this same level of recognition.”

~ENDS~

Notes to editors

The options:

While members are encouraged to adopt the proposed new designations and post-nominals, some may prefer to use the established designations of Associate and Fellow. Members are free to choose the designation that works best for them.

The IFoA is working to familiarise employers with the new designations and their use, and to communicate that some members will choose to keep traditional descriptors and post-nominals.

How it works:

The new designation for Fellow IFoA members will be Chartered Actuary (Fellow), using the post-nominals:

  • FIA C.Act
  • FFA C.Act

The new designation for Associate IFoA members will be Chartered Actuary (Associate), using the post-nominals:

  • AIA C.Act
  • AFA C.Act

Contact

Hannah Patmore, Communications Manager, IFoA  
Tel: 07519106714  
Email: hannah.patmore@actuaries.org.uk

About the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries 

The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) is a royal chartered, not-for-profit, professional body.

Research undertaken by the IFoA is not commercial. As a learned society, research helps us to fulfil our royal charter requirements to further actuarial science and serve the public interest.

Actuaries provide commercial, financial and prudential advice on the management of a business’s assets and liabilities, especially where long term management and planning are critical to the success of any business venture. They also advise individuals, and advise on social and public interest issues.

Members of the IFoA have a statutory role in the supervision of pension funds and life insurance companies. They also have a statutory role to provide actuarial opinions for managing agents at Lloyd’s of London.

Members are governed by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. A rigorous examination system is supported by a programme of continuing professional development and a professional code of conduct supports high standards reflecting the significant role of actuaries in society.

The IFoA is available to provide independent expert comment to the media on a range of actuarial-related issues, including COVID-19 and its long term consequences, mortality, pensions, life and general insurance, health and care, finance and investment, climate change and sustainability, systems thinking, uncertainty and judgement, and risk management.