The year is almost over and most of us will be relieved to see the back of 2020 and looking
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A MESSAGE FROM OUR CEO,
Craig Falconer
“The year is almost over and most of us will be
relieved to see the back of 2020 and looking
forward to a better 2021 equipped with the
lessons learned from the previous year.”
The pandemic has put a lot of pressure on many Although the pandemic is expected to be with us for a
of our clients from a financial perspective but also while still, we all have to adapt and get on with business
once again – armed with lessons learned from 2020. QED is
emotional and psychological strain on all staff therefore recruiting again – with plans to add an additional
and colleagues. Most insurers have remained 13 staff for next year - to ensure we can meet client’s
resilient from a solvency perspective, but profits commitments and our growth targets. Our focus remains
have come under increased pressure resulting in Southern Africa, East Africa centred around Kenya and
West Africa centred around Nigeria. QED Mauritius is making
companies looking at ways to cut expenses. inroads into Francophone Africa and we believe we can
Like everyone else, QED was forced to cut non-essential grow our presence in the region significantly.
expenses and put recruitment on hold while we waited to Our expansion strategy took a back seat in 2020 but if travel
see how the impact of the epidemic unfolded. The lack of permits, we will revive it in 2021 with interest shown for our
face-to-face interaction with our clients and between our services in Israel, North Africa and the Middle East.
teams made the on-time delivery of work challenging at
times. We aim to get back to interacting with each other, our staff
and our clients in a safe and responsible manner and we
Through continued focus and dedication from our staff we hope that we can start travelling again in 2021 and visit all
were largely able to maintain service levels. This is evident our clients across Africa and beyond.
from the client satisfaction survey which we undertook in
September. Thank you to all of you who responded and for
giving QED an impressive net promoter score of 81. Where
we do have projects where we couldn’t deliver on time, we
sincerely appreciate the patience our clients have shown,
and we will work hard to shorten those delivery times. We
appreciate your continued loyal support over the years.
NET PROMOTER SCORE
Client Satisfaction Survey,
September 2020
Beyond the horizon. Together.
2
TRENDS
The business environment resulted in With increased pressure on profits, we also worked
with our clients to optimise their capital requirements
a shift in priorities this year amongst and thereby free up assets to improve their return on
our clients. There was less focus on equity. We saw an increased demand in reinsurance
optimisation as companies aim to cut reinsurance
new products, innovation and any spend to increase underwriting profit.
discretionary spend. Regulatory work
Many of our projects revolved around the impact
however was forced to continue of Covid-19 on lapses and increased death and
including additional reporting retrenchment claims. None of us could have
requirements like out of cycle ORSA’s predicted a year ago that a pandemic is going to
be on the top of the risk register and during these
and COVID19 scenario analyses. past few months we had to work with our clients to
reconsider their risk management framework, key
risks and mitigators.
We saw an increased
demand in reinsurance
optimisation as companies
aim to cut reinsurance
spend to increase
underwriting profit.
www.qedact.com
3
AWARDS
This year QED was fortunate to have won more
awards than any other. The awards reflect the
amazing set of skills that we are privileged to
have in QED and our continued investment in
Research & Development and Data Science.
All the research includes data science as a
common element and the way in which it can
be used to improve actuarial science modelling
and outcomes.
Ronald Richman Caesar Balona
FIA FASSA CERA FASSA
Caesar Balona and Ronald Richman won the highly coveted Ronald together with Gary Velcich also won the award for
Brian Hey prize by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries in the the Best paper at this year’s Actuarial Society of South Africa
UK for their paper entitled “The Actuary and IBNR Techniques: Convention for their paper entitled “Mortality Improvements
A Machine Learning Approach”. We believe the techniques in South Africa: Insights from Pensioner Mortality”. Ronald also
The paper is based on an that flow from this research will revolutionise IBNR reserving in
General Insurance and bring IBNR reserving into the age of
joined forces with Prof. Mario Wutrich from ETH Zurich to win
the Geoffrey Heywood Prize by the Institute and Faculty of
algorithm that Caesar and machine learning and AI. Actuaries in the UK for their work entitled “A Neural Network
Extension of the Lee-Carter Model to Multiple Populations”.
Ronald developed and tested The paper is based on an algorithm that Caesar and Ronald
developed and tested on real world data and which proved And finally, Ronald won the Hachemeister Prize by the
on real world data and which more accurate than traditional IBNR techniques. Casualty Actuarial Society in the US for his work entitled “AI
in Actuarial Science”.
proved more accurate than The algorithm will be made freely available during Q2 of 2021
and a press release on the matter will follow in Q1 of 2021.
traditional IBNR techniques.
The algorithm will be made freely
available during Q2 of 2021 and
a press release on the matter will
follow in Q1 of 2021.
www.qedact.com
4
2021 BEYOND THE HORIZON
We anticipate a significant spike in QED has doubled in size over the past 3 years and we aim to replicate that feat over
IFRS17 implementations and thereby the coming 3 years as we become the leading actuarial consultancy in Africa. We
a significant skills shortage. For those continue to invest in skills and technology as we anticipate that data science will
clients who have not started with revolutionise actuarial science over the next decade.
their IFRS 17 implementation we
encourage them to urgently draw 2020 was a tough year and we are thankful that we were able to weather the storm along with
up their roadmap and engage with most of our clients. We continue to see opportunities on the horizon for companies that adapt
and continue to strive to succeed.
IFRS 17 is going to software providers and consultants
to start with the process. I would like to personally thank our fantastic QED family across our 4 offices and our loyal
move to the top While there should be some gradual clients across Africa (and beyond) for getting us through this year. We wish you and your
families a well-deserved rest and all the best for 2021.
of the priority list recovery, we see a continued period
of reduced underwriting profits and
with the go-live focus on closely managing expenses,
date of 2023 fast
capital and reinsurance spend. But
maybe more so than ever, insurance
C. F
alconer
companies will have to re-invest Craig Falconer
approaching. in innovation if they are going to
CEO
survive and grow.
QED South Africa (Pty) Ltd QED Actuaries & Consultants (Pty) Ltd
1st Floor, The Bridle, Hunts End Office Park, 1st Floor, The Bridle, Hunts End Office Park,
38 Wierda Road West, Sandton, 38 Wierda Road West, Sandton,
South Africa South Africa
QED Employee Benefits Consulting (Pty) Ltd QED Actuaries & Consultants Kenya Ltd
1st Floor, The Bridle, Hunts End Office Park, Nairobi Garage, Watermark Business Park,
38 Wierda Road West, Sandton, Nairobi, Kenya
South Africa
QED Actuaries & Consultants Mauritius Ltd
QED Holding Company (Pty) Ltd The POD, Vivea Business Park, Moka,
1st Floor, The Bridle, Hunts End Office Park, Mauritius
38 Wierda Road West, Sandton,
South Africa
QED Actuaries Nigeria Ltd
Workstation Office No. 7, Ibiyinka Olorunbe
QED Ventures (Pty) Ltd Close, Victoria Island, Lagos,
1st Floor, The Bridle, Hunts End Office Park, Nigeria
38 Wierda Road West, Sandton,
South Africa
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