Cass actuarial students scoop SCOR awards for 7th year running

Nov. 21, 2013 - PRLog -- Each year SCOR aims to lift the bar in actuarial research and add to knowledge in the field by awarding prizes for paper in six European countries. Previously judges have picked out the best research across two categories: life insurance and property and casualty insurance.

This year, however, the panel were so impressed by the winning submissions that they moved away from tradition to award both prizes to life papers.

One prize was awarded to Hang Ping Cher for his paper Underinsurance in the UK.

He said: "I felt both honoured and encouraged when I heard I had won the award. My sincere thanks go to my supervisor, David Smith, for his insightful guidance throughout the project, as well as all those who supported me along the way.

Working on the dissertation was a very rewarding experience and it provided an excellent opportunity to learn more about an aspect of insurance which interests me."

David Smith, Lecturer in Actuarial Science, commented: "Hang's dissertation came from a fresh angle than other projects on this topic, as it took in the social implications of life insurance and how it can benefit society as a whole.

"People in the UK are good at investing in contents and property insurance, but they often don't put sufficient amounts into good life and health insurance policies. This means, in the event of death, some people are unable to leave their children enough money to support them until 21."

Chariya was awarded the other prize for her paper Micro Life Insurance: A Panacea to the Problems of the Thai Pension System?

She said: "I feel grateful to SCOR for awarding me such a prestigious prize. It is a real encouragement to keep pushing the bar with my future work in the insurance industry. The quality of the Cass MSc Insurance & Risk Management (http://www.cass.city.ac.uk/courses/masters/courses/insura...) programme and professors contributed majorly to my achievement.

I am looking forward to a challenging, but rewarding career in the insurance industry."
Cass Honorary Professor Derek Atkins, who supervised Chariya's paper said: "Chariya was an outstanding student on the 2012 MSc Insurance & Risk Management course. I had the pleasure of supervising her impressive dissertation on microinsurance in Thailand.

Microinsurance is still very much in its infancy and so Chariya's study of its relevance to pensions for the poor in Thailand was of significant interest to insurers and governments, as well as academics."

Hang has taken up a position as an Actuarial Executive at Tokio Marine Life Insurance Singapore Ltd and Chariya is currently working as a Graduate Trainee at MSIG Insurance Public Company Limited in Thailand. David Smith will join Professor Chris Parsons, Director of the MSc Insurance and Risk Management course, to accept the prizes on their behalf at an awards ceremony taking place later today.

You can find out more about the Actuarial Science degrees (http://www.cass.city.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/courses/...) available at Cass Business School through our website.