The Presidential Address argues that, by acting in the public interest, the power of actuaries to benefit individuals financially can become a competitive advantage for the profession. This theme is explored by reference to professionalism being under threat, the negative impact of professional negligence claims, the need for unity in the profession, nationally and internationally, and the consequences for our education. The future of the profession will be brighter, and can be expansionist, if actuaries are recognised and valued for serving the public interest in the wider fields, but this will require effective public relations.

The first part of the Address is a review of changes over the last 30 years in the actuarial management of a life office — ranging from the introduction of the Appointed Actuary system to some of the consequences of the Financial Services Act. It draws attention to some of the differences in the regulatory treatment of life assurance companies and other competing organisations in the savings field, highlights some of the shortcomings in the European solvency regime that is currently being reviewed by the authorities, comments on developments in the area of anti-discriminatory legislation and draws attention to some possible problems arising from such legislation.

The Address continues by outlining some of the issues that must be tackled if the profession is to expand into other fields, and the last part comments on developments in the day-to-day management of the United Kingdom actuarial profession and the Faculty's relationship with the Institute.

This paper draws analogies between techniques used to reserve for, control and manage derivatives and techniques used by actuaries in other fields. It concentrates on equity derivatives. It also includes a review of the factors which significantly influence the appropriate size of reserves to hold for a derivatives portfolio. These include the likelihood of market jumps, uncertainty in future market volatility and the size of transaction costs, as well as on more obvious factors like position risk.

This paper reviews the United Kingdom stochastic asset model developed by Wilkie (1995b). Certain aspects of the methodology used to develop this model could be problematic. Moreover, Wilkie (1995b) did not provide a complete evaluation of his model; certain economic theories and the constancy of the model's parameter values did not appear to have been specifically considered. This paper attempts to provide a comprehensive review of Wilkie's model.

Consolidation of FTSE Actuaries share indices, and of the revised 1994 Industrial Classification system. New Alternative Investment Market (AIM) Index. Closure of Unlisted Securities Market.