Banking on Actuarial Education

Over the past few years, the Institute has given renewed focus to banking, both within the education program and at a committee level. The Banking Practice Working Group was revived – thanks to Bill Konstantinidis – and the Institute worked on rolling out a new Fellowship subject to provide a deep explanation of how banks manage their risk.

Crafting the curriculum

Moz Ali, an experienced banker, drove the development of the syllabus and prepared the core teaching material. The curriculum covered essential topics including operations, strategy, governance, profitability and risk management – all crucial for a career in banking. Dr George Nassios convenes the Banking Education Faculty and provides expert peer review of the Banking subject.

Insights from the first cohort

David Service, an ex-banker and former Head of the CAP Part III Subject, taught the first offering earlier this year.

34 students enrolled and 16 passed—a 46% pass rate, which is impressive for a new subject. The Education Team are grateful for the honest feedback from students that will enable improvements to the teaching material for Semester 1, 2025.

Two of these students, Manpreet Singh and Naditha Jayanetti, shared their key takeaways from the subject and how they apply their learnings in their current roles.

Manpreet Singh

Manpreet Singh discovered his passion for banking while working in EY’s Banking and Capital Markets Team. He is now an Associate Director in Interest Rate Risk in the Banking Book Modelling Team at Westpac. Reflecting on the Banking Principles subject, Manpreet said:

“The Institute’s Banking Principles subject was a good reminder of how the different parts of a bank work together – liquidity management, credit risk, capital management. It was great to hear from guest lecturers about their banking experience and how their actuarial skills have benefitted their banking careers.”

Manpreet’s team at Westpac includes other actuarial students as well as colleagues with advanced finance qualifications such as CFA and FRM. He actively applies his actuarial skills in his day-to-day work, particularly in justifying his modelling assumptions and validating his work using the actuarial control cycle.

Naditha Jayanetti

Naditha Jayanetti, who works in a banking and capital markets team at a consulting firm, also utilises his actuarial skills extensively. He has worked on diverse projects across the banking sector, including with the “Big 4” and other Australian and international authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs). His projects range from balance sheet management to climate scenario analysis and commodity valuations.

Naditha enrolled in the Banking Principles Subject to enhance both his banking and actuarial skills and focus his career within the risk space.

“Having worked on various banking projects, I was pleased to see many of these topics covered within the subject and can see that it is a solid foundation for a banking actuary,” said Naditha.

Naditha is enthusiastic about exploring further opportunities as a banking actuary, leveraging his technical abilities and actuarial judgment to solve complex banking problems.

With the Fellowship program now including Banking Principles, Enterprise Risk Management, Data Science Applications, and Investments, actuaries are well-positioned to expand into broad financial services careers.

Are you an experienced banker? Join the Institute’s Banking Practice Working Group!

This Working Group consists of leading actuaries working in banking, financial services and related fields. The group develops CPD materials, maintains the Banking syllabus and creates networking opportunities for members. If you’re passionate about leadership and advancing the profession, consider volunteering with our Banking Practice Working Group to help expand this practice area. Contact Clare Marshall for more information.

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