As a diverse business offering general insurance, life, pensions and asset management products, LV= actuaries need to have wide ranging knowledge and experience.
The group currently employs around sixty qualified and student actuaries throughout the business, as well as recruiting graduates to be trained as actuaries each year. The academy will bring all these together to share and build on actuarial knowledge across the business. Developing talent is at the core of the academy and job roles have been aligned across all business areas to give actuarial staff a clear framework to progress their career.
With defined job roles and competency frameworks, those newer to the profession can look ahead to see the skills and abilities needed to take the next step in their actuarial career. Having a consistent competency framework across the group also enables role rotation across different business areas, allowing participants to gain experience of other sectors. This is particularly attractive to junior staff as they can broaden their experience without leaving the business and in turn, enables LV= to retain its skilled staff.
LV= is investing significant training budget in the academy members whether qualified or studying to guarantee access to ongoing learning at all levels. Technical training will be delivered through a combination of on-the-job learning, external education through recognised providers and access to industry conferences and events. All academy members are encouraged and supported to attain professional qualifications and become members of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.
In addition to technical training, academy members will benefit from informal training with their colleagues in the workplace. Regular 'lunch & learn' sessions encourage the actuarial community from across the business to get together and share knowledge and skills.
External and internal speakers will lead the sessions, which will cover a range of topical industry issues, as well as broader business issues and will be targeted at different levels of experience. The sessions also count towards the technical hours required by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries' CPD programme. As well as actuarial training, the academy recognises the need to develop an individual's talents beyond their technical ability. As an actuary progresses, they need to be able to motivate a team, present to the Board and deal with a whole host of business issues outside of their actuarial remit and LV= has designed learning modules to help them achieve this.
The LV= employee learning programme, LeOn, has material covering subjects such as: assertiveness, business writing skills, coaching and feedback, managing effective meetings, mentoring, negotiation skills and stress management, and uses a combination of e-learning, textbooks and starter kits as well as more traditional face to face learning.
Stuart Affleck, head of learning and development at LV=, said: "Recruiting and developing the right talent is key to good business growth. LV= has seen record growth in the past year and we are investing in our people to build on this. The academy brings together all of the actuarial talent from across the group and facilitates skills sharing across the business. By combining our knowledge in this way, we can maximise our industry intelligence and ensure that we are best placed to compete in ever changing market conditions."
