Use actuaries to cut emerging risks, lenders urged
James Olubayi, executive director Alexander Forbes Group in Kenya. PHOTO | FILE
Financial institutions must make use of actuarial services to mitigate against constantly changing risks in the global and local economies.
Normally, actuaries—business professions who deal with measurement and management of risks and uncertainties—are part of the Kenyan insurance industry owing to regulatory requirements but are rarely employed in banks.
KCB Group chief risk officer Rose Kinuthia, speaking Tuesday at The Actuarial Society of Kenya convention in Nairobi, said management of emerging risks in the banking environment is a new challenge.
“Disruption is the new challenge in banks. We must continue to safeguard ourselves from emerging risks in the sector such as fraud and cybercrime,” she said.
Other challenges noted were growing market competition and product complexities, interest rate capping, compliance/regulatory, political and terrorism risks.
The two-day convention is seeking to find ways of tackling issues across the sector where actuarial professions work and how their skills could be used to find solutions for challenges affecting the financial sector.
During the convention, actuaries were asked to diversify their skills in order to solve risk problems troubling the financial sector.
“We should prudently react to current and upcoming changes across the industry and help solve the current problems faced,” said James Olubayi, executive director, Alexander Forbes Group in Kenya.
PAYE Tax Calculator
Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
