World Drug Report 2008

The opium/heroin market continues to expand on the
production side. The total area under illicit opium poppy cultivation
increased by 17% in 2007 .

The opium/heroin market continues to be dominated
by the large levels of cultivation and production in
Afghanistan (82% of global production).

Worldwide there are around 16.5 million opiate users (some 12 million use heroin).



More statistics in the World Drug report 2008.

Edelman Trust Barometer 2008

The credibility of a CEO doesn't seem sky high.....

More, in this interesting report of the Edelman Trust Barometer 2008.


What about the trust in Lawyers or accountants?

These are the Coredata results:



Pity an actuary isn't reviewed. So, what about the credibility of an actuary?

In short: It's at steak!

These are the recommendations the "Task Force On Actuarial Credibility"
as advised in a October 2007 presentation, based on the original CAS report 2005.

Task Force Recommendations

1. Enhance transparency of the actuary’s conclusions by identifying differences between the “best estimates” of management and the actuary.
2. Enhance the public’s understanding of actuarial estimates and to refine actuarial methodologies.
3. To improve the transparency of actuarial estimates by providing the changes from one reporting period to the next within the actuarial report.
4. To enhance the quality of corporate governance for property/casualty insurers by educating audit committees and/or boards of directors on the roles and responsibility of the appointed actuary.
5. To enhance self-governance of the actuarial profession with respect to reserve opinions by requiring the appointed actuary to provide an explanatory document with the ABCD whenever the change in the actuary’s reserve estimate over a defined period of time exceeds certain predetermined thresholds.
6. Incorporate the actuarial statement with the Jurat page of each property/casualty insurance company’s Annual Statement.
   

These recommendations could also apply to non-casualty actuarial areas.

European Actuarial Academy

The European Actuarial Academy (EAA) was founded on 29 August,2005, by the Actuarial Associations of Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands.

These four associations are also the EAA stakeholders. Its foundation was a response to the increased demand from Central and Eastern European countries for Actuary professionalisation.

EAA strives to become the knowledge centre of European Actuary education.

EAA has on offer:

• Actuarial education, including examination
• Permanent education for (certified) actuaries
• Consulting on Actuarial education.

From October 1st to 3rd 2008, there's an EAA Seminar, ‘Pricing in General Insurance’ in St. Petersburg/Russia.

Read more about EAA.