Organised by the EAA - European Actuarial Academy GmbH

CERA Education

Over the last decade, the concept of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) has gained significant momentum in the insurance industry and beyond. This came with the recognition of risk as being something not per se to be avoided, but to be optimally exploited in the frame of a company’s risk appetite. ERM is going beyond traditional risk management in that it is holistic, and encompasses strategic risk management as well as risk culture.

Many of these developments are reflected in regulatory changes, such as the MaRisk in Germany, or the upcoming Solvency II (although these focus on policyholder protection and less on opportunities). Solvency II will require an actuarial and a risk management function in all (re-)insurance undertakings. Actuaries should see this as an opportunity to broaden their role, and to show that they are ideally equipped to carry out these tasks.

Against this backdrop, in November 2009, several actuarial associations launched the CERA credential as a global risk management designation for actuaries. CERA pursues the following goals:

• Strengthen international recognition of the actuarial profession’s enterprise risk management (ERM) expertise
• Promote the development of more actuaries internationally with training in ERM
• Present new opportunities for actuaries worldwide to use their expertise in an expanding range of areas
• Send a strong message to employers and candidates that the skill set of actuaries offers significant risk management expertise 

Based on the 2011-implemented education und examination system of the German Actuarial Association to study for the CERA designation, the EAA offers a series of training courses and exams (through DAV) to all actuaries who want to deepen their knowledge in Enterprise Risk Management.

By passing this training and examination course, members of the German Actuarial Association gain their CERA designation. Members of other national actuarial associations have to get in touch with their association to check the possibilities to use the EAA route.

The Seminar ‘Risk Management Tools and Techniques’ 

The present seminar deals with various tools and techniques available in the insurance business to mitigate risks that an insurer may not want to be exposed to. It includes a detailed and comprehensive discussion around the implications of reinsurance and securitisation. We will also present what life insurance companies subject to traditional with profit business can do to hedge their main risks. One slot will be dedicated to the measurement and management of operational risks. Further sessions include the management of credit risk, provide insight into portfolio management or explain hedging approaches for VA style insurance products.

The various sessions will be complemented with practical examples, exercises and tailored case studies.

The seminar is open to all persons who are interested in obtaining comprehensive skills on Enterprise Risk Management. 

This seminar is one part in a course that consists of six modules. They can be booked as a whole series to fulfil the requirements for receiving the CERA designation, or individually as CPD training. Written exams on the course are offered subsequently.

During this seminar, you will not need your laptop.

Please contact your actuarial association regarding the recognition of the seminars and the exams. The national association has to be at least Acceding Party of the CERA Global Association so that an actuary who passes this course may receive the CERA credential.

Wolfgang Baumann, Towers Watson

Prof Dr Hubert Bornhorn, FH Dortmund
Hubert Borthorn is a Professor for mathematics and statistics at the Faculty of Business at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts. He is a member of the German Actuarial Association (DAV). Hubert studied mathematics in Münster and Oxford and holds a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in mathematics from WWU Münster. Hubert’s areas of expertise include Financial Risk Management, Asset Management for insurance companies and Actuarial Mathematics. Before attaining his current position he worked almost 10 years for a life insurance company.

Jörg Dittrich, Munich Re
Jörg Dittrich, studied mathematics and economics in Duisburg majoring in stochastics und actuarial sciences. He is fellow of the German Actuarial Association (DAV) and Certified Enterprise Risk Actuary (CERA). Jörg Dittrich is Senior Controller Gatekeeper in the Divisional Unit Reinsurance Controlling at Munich Re involved in the reconciliation of interest within business steering and controlling. Prior to this he was project leader within the Solvency Consulting unit of Munich Re assigned to the open source project PillarOne and responsible for the development of risk management tools and the linked consulting services. In diverse functions Jörg Dittrich participated in the development, implementation and operation of the internal model of Munich Re. He is familiar with the reinsurance business from his previous Underwriter function. Jörg Dittrich is a founding member of the DAV working group on internal models and DAA lecturer for the CERA training.

Fabian Hupe, Hannover Re
Fabian Hupe is a Senior Actuary at Hannover Re’s Insurance-Linked Securities division since 2008. His responsibilities include risk assessment and risk reporting for all non-life activities of the department. In particular, he is responsible for the valuation of individual cat bonds as well as the portfolio steering and optimization for Hannover Re’s ILS investment activities. Fabian has studied Financial Econometrics at Maastricht University (The Netherlands) and joined Hannover Re in 2005 where he initially worked in the risk management division on non-life reserving. He is a qualified actuary (DAV) since 2011. Furthermore, Fabian is a member of the investment committee for Leine Investment SICAV-SIF, an ILS investment vehicle based in Luxembourg.

Michael Klüttgens, Towers Watson
Michael is a Director at Towers Watson and leading its risk management activities in Germany. Michael is a member of the German Actuarial Association (DAV) and a member of the Pillar I Life working group of the Group consultatif. Michael holds a master’s degree in mathematics from RWTH Aachen. He attained the CERA credential in 2013.
Michael’s areas of expertise include Risk Management, Financial Reporting, M&A and Value-Based Management. He has led many QIS related projects in Europe, including the QIS3/4 Benchmarking study for the CRO Forum, and also worked several years in the Towers Watson team at the CEA in Brussels. He has worked on group wide risk management function/ORSA implementation assignments. Michael has worked on several internal model review and implementation projects. He holds the Appointed Actuary Function for a Swiss client Michael performed multiple M&A assignments in the Nordics and CEE.

Dr Ingo Kraus, ERGO
Ingo is Head of ALM / Quantitative Methods and Models at ERGO Insurance Group, Germany. In particular, he and his team are giving quantitative support for ALM / strategic asset allocation and are in charge of many aspects of asset modeling with respect to valuation and risk management. Ingo is a member of the German Actuarial Association (DAV) and CFA chartholder. He holds a PhD in mathematics from Albert Ludwigs Universität Freiburg. Ingo’s areas of expertise include Value-Based Management, Risk Management and particularly Asset Liability Management. He worked for many years in actuarial teams (product development, valuation, actuarial steering) and later in strategic asset allocation functions.