I co-founded Auto Actuary, an Actuarial software company developing widely used cashflow modelling software used for IFRS17 Transition and compliance (amongst others).

Independent Actuarial Consultant focussing on Tech advancements in Life Insurance and Banking

My role was focussed on building tools in R for processes previously performed in Excel. This included VIF valuation models, cost of financial guarantee calculations, mortality and lapse experience investigations. I also provided mentorship and training to other colleagues on R and visual basic.

During my term as Assistant Manager at EY I exceeded expectations and was rewarded with a performance rating of 5 out of 5 and promotion to Manager (effective 1 October 2016).I was selected to consult EY Italy for a 10 week period in Milan. I was part of the Financial & Credit internal capital modelling validation team for the Generali Insurance Group. My role was to evaluate and document the validation tests performed on the internal capital model.I gained valuable experience of the Solvency Assessment and Management (SAM) framework implemented by the Financial Services Board (FSB) in South Africa. I built and supervised SAM parallel run calculations and was part of the audit team reviewing the first publicly disclosed SAM solvency ratio figures for one large South African insurance company.I was part of the credit impairment (IAS39; IFRS9) audit team for a large multinational bank. My focus was on the impairment calculation for the Retail clients and included an in depth review of the PD and LGD calculations as well as considerations for future IFRS9 compliance.I managed and reviewed the life insurance company valuations for two small South African insurance companies. This included a Statutory valuation for a linked insurer and Embedded Value (EV) calculation for a niche cell captive insurance company.

During my term as an Senior Actuarial Associate at EY, I continued to develop a broad range of experience and expertise, received a performance rating of 5 out of 5 and promotion to Assistant Manager.I gained further experience on economic capital modelling, focussing on scenario generation, replicating formulae and capital allocations between different risks. The focus was on building a formula fitting tool, deriving the loss function and allocating capital using the Euler method. The results from my research was used to present at the Actuarial convention in the talk called Risk and capital analytics – added value or wasted effort? (http://actuarialsocietyconvention.org.za/convention2014/assets/pdf/presentations/Goosen%20Smit.pdf). I was seconded to a large Life insurer on a project to improve the synergies between different countries' reporting processes. After an initial phase, the secondment was extended (5 months in total) and rolled out to additional countries' processes.I performed the main calculations and analyses on the statutory valuation for a linked insurer and Embedded Value calculation for another niche Life insurer. In general, valuation models and processes were much improved and formalised during these projects.I developed my knowledge and understanding of the Solvency Assessment and Management (SAM) framework (EU Solvency II equivalent) by performing a project on justifying the standard formula for a large life insurer as part of the ORSA and building a tool for the SAM calculations for a linked insurer, focussing on market risks.

After finishing my studies at the Stellenbosch University, I started my career as an Actuarial Associate at EY Advisory Services. I gained valuable experience over a short period of time and enjoyed the challenges of working on multiple project at once.I found a particular interest in the Economic Capital field, with a focus on building a formula fitting tool, whereby the Best Estimate Liability (BEL) calculation model for a complex life insurance product could be estimated using a few sensitivity runs and linear regression techniques. I derived practical ways to obtain the best "structure" for the formula, optimising the run times required to perform the formula fitting. This technique has subsequently been used by EY teams in the United Kingdom.I also gained valuable banking experience, developing a parallel loss given default (LGD) model as part of the audit of a large South African retailer. This parallel model was developed in SAS with limited supervision and prior experience.Other experience includes life insurance audits, SAM QIS3 calculations, Life Insurance Statutory Valuations and Embedded Value calculations.