The Solvency II Directive changes the environment of insurance companies drastically: the complexity of
the solvency quantification raises the bar on technical expertise; the governance system requires a
sound risk management system and introduces the lines of defense. The public and other reporting
requirements reflect the context of what Solvency II is trying to achieve and it can be argued that an
independent review of these reports is required.The Solvency II regime also impacts the way the actuary
contributes to the management and the monitoring of insurance and reinsurance undertakings.
The purpose of this article is not only to illustrate what kind of new competences are expected of
actuaries, it also points out how actuaries can be involved and how these roles are implemented in the
different markets. It draws attention to the fact that, in addition to the expected contribution of the
actuary to the operations of the undertaking and in the context of the Actuarial Function (as defined in
article 48 of the Directive), the existing roles as Appointed Actuary and in the context of the external
audit may change; however new roles in Risk Management and Supervision are emerging.
It concludes that the scope of the involvement of the actuary has significantly increased with new areas
for actuarial involvement emerging (even though practice can be different from one market to another).