Serving the public interest through the Public Interest Actuary

The IAA membership regulations require members to include in their code of conduct an obligation that “an actuary shall act in a manner that fulfils the profession’s responsibility to the public” , or similar requirements consistent with this. Accordingly, the Code of Conduct of the Actuarial Society of South Africa (the ASSA Code) contains the same provision: “a member must act… in a manner that fulfils the profession’s responsibility to the public”.

IAA PG1 goes on to state that: Provided an actuary meets the requirements of law as well as his or her actuarial association’s code of professional conduct and applicable professional standards, then the actuary will be considered to have met his or her responsibility to the profession and to public.

The ASSA Code contains a similar provision. On face value, this appears to dispense with the matter of serving the public interest. However, views on this differ. For example, one view is that nothing further needs to be done. Another view is that much more should be done to serve the public interest. Another view is that individual actuaries should not have a duty to the public interest.

The precise definition of ‘public interest’ remains out of reach, and the application of the “profession’s responsibility to the public”1,2 is open to interpretation. Nonetheless, the Actuarial Society of South Africa took the bold step of creating a position of Public Interest Actuary, with oversight by the Public Interest Governance Committee. This paper will discuss the nature of this Public Interest Actuary role, and highlight some of the main issues that need to be considered.