MEET THE MACEDONIAN ACTUARIAL ASSOCIATION (MAA)

June 2016

The Macedonian Actuarial Association (MAA) was founded in 2004 and has 28 regular, six associate, and two honorary members. It was admitted as an Associate Member of the IAA in 2006 and became the 68th Full Member Association in May 2016.

Its members are active in non-life insurance, life insurance, pensions, education, regulatory agencies, and as independent consultants. Almost half of the fully qualified actuaries work in non-life insurance.

There are 13 regular members in the 30–39 age group, 11 are between 40 and 49, two are in the 50–59 age group, and two are over 60. The oldest member is 75 and the youngest is 31.

The actuarial profession in the Republic of Macedonia is still in its early days. Despite the fact that several faculties have postgraduate courses in actuarial mathematics, the only authority that organizes cycles of actuarial courses in accordance with the IAA education requirements is the Insurance Supervision Agency (ISA). All member actuaries acquired their education through ISA-organized courses, with the exception of one who was educated in another FMA—the Bulgarian Actuarial Society.

Currently all regular and associate MAA members have completed their actuarial education. As the last cycle of ISA actuarial courses was completed in 2013, there are no active students in the association.

The MAA qualification process follows the legal requirements under which the ISA grants the status of Certified Actuary. They consist of an actuarial education in accordance with the IAA requirements and one year’s work experience in the actuarial field. By statute, the association can impose stricter qualification requirements.

The MAA is a small association in a country with population of 2 million. There are 11 non-life and four life insurance companies, one state pension fund, and two private pension companies in the market. Interest in the profession in the present regulatory environment is generally low. The insurance companies usually employ one actuary; life insurance and private pension firms were introduced only in the past 10 years. However, the regulator’s intentions to move to Solvency II will mean an increased demand for actuaries in the republic. Consequently, actuarial education is one of the most important challenges that lie ahead of the association as an FMA.

In support of its members’ continuous professional development, the MAA organized two seminars in 2015 on risk and Solvency II and liability adequacy testing (LAT). The LAT seminar took place as part of the Erasmus+ project and was a joint undertaking between the MAA and the Croatian Actuarial Association (CAA).

Over the years, the Macedonian association has established good relations with the CAA, which provided educators for each of the cycles of actuarial education organized by the ISA. Co-operation with the regulator is also very good. The MAA and ISA regularly organize joint seminars and workshops on different topics, including consultations on new bylaws concerning actuarial issues.

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