Actuary play a very important role in the insurance industry. Recently, with the rise of big data and the emergence of artificial intelligence and insurance technology, the functions of actuary have also undergone subtle changes.
Li Xiaolin, dean of the School of Insurance of the Central University of Finance and Economics, said at the joint press conference of the Central University of Finance and Economics-The British Association of Actuaries and the special forum on “New Technology and Actuarial Industry Development”, “The actuary is in a huge information asymmetry (the insured and the insured are in the subject matter of the insurance, the insurer to the outside world.
There is an information asymmetry between the laws of things and insurance terms, market intermediaries, regulators, and various subjects. Each subject seeks to maximize the benefits, and the game will be in a stable state in the end.” Insurance itself is an important platform for resource allocation. In the value chain where enterprises create value and the public pays the bill. It is common for consumers to pay for risk-related services and related innovations by paying premiums.
Li Xiaolin said that as the main work of risk measurement in the industry, actuary must cooperate with many parties to maintain the high-end nature of the industry, and pay attention to whether insurance is value creation or value parasitic in this process.
For example, whether it is information communication or information monopoly, whether it promotes industrial upgrading or hinders industrial upgrading, whether it optimizes the insurance ecosystem or makes its vicious circle, etc., actuary has a lot of power in this, so he also assumes more responsibilities.
In addition, with the development of new technologies centered on information technology change, people have unlimited imagination about the future of science and technology, especially after AlphaGo defeated the human Go champion, the technology industry led by big data, blockchain, artificial intelligence and other technologies seems to be changing or even tossing in an irreversible manner.
Overturn the traditional industries of economy and society. Information technology is quietly changing the world, accompanied by the evolution of risks in mutation. As a risk management industry, the integration and renewal of the insurance industry and new technology are at the forefront of the times. As an insurance industry with natural links with information and data, the development of technology has subverted many laws of risk and brought a huge impact to the insurance industry. Among them, the most important thing is the high-dimensionalization and risk variation of various economic and social elements.
And the actuarial industry is closely related to the insurance industry, and even the primary source of risk control. The development of these new technologies has increased the dimension of risk. On the one hand, it makes the information more abundant, but on the other hand, it also exacerbates the asymmetry of information.
In addition, some previously overlooked dimensions of risk have been re-emerged under new technologies.” Due to the increase of the risk dimension, our existing understanding of risk is insufficient, and the supervision of the risk game is becoming more and more difficult. Li Xiaolin said.
While the development of new technologies makes risk management difficult for actuaries, it is not unsolved.” The game in cooperation is helpful, restricted and balanced, and will eventually reach a stable state. The work of the actuary is to find this stable state, that is, mutual restraint.
There must be something that restricts a certain risk, but it is just a difference between finding or not, so don’t be afraid of risks. Li Xiaolin believes that all subjects in the market hope to increase their advantages through monopoly, while what actuary needs to do is to increase the insurance subject, let more parties enter the game, promote information transparency, and reduce information asymmetry.
In addition, Li Xiaolin believes that insurance has the function of resource allocation. In a modern mature society where the insurance industry provides comprehensive services, insurance is the natural benchmark for measuring risk. Through the platform of insurance, social resources can easily flow to areas with relatively low risk, quality and high value.
Actuary should pay attention to how to reduce the cost of resource allocation and improve the efficiency of allocation, especially to reduce risk costs through risk management, reduce friction costs through orderly allocation, reduce transaction costs, stand on the side of consumers to rationally endorse them, improve the order and quality of consumption, and improve consumer production. State circle, reduce consumption costs.