Insights - Zenith Actuarial

Agentic AI is on the rise and will impact insurers

Mon, 28 Apr 2025 14:00:02 GMT

Read our article published by InsuranceERM

Agentic artificial intelligence (AI) will increasingly impact actuarial modelling and insurers, according to Martin Sher, chief operating officer of UK-headquartered actuarial and technology consultancy, Zenith Actuarial.

Agentic AI refers to AI systems and models that can act autonomously to achieve goals without the need for constant human guidance. To achieve this level of autonomous decision-making and action, agentic AI relies on a complex ensemble of different machine learning, natural language processing and automation technologies.

Discussing how automation in actuarial modelling will evolve, and the impact of AI, Sher said agentic AI is already gaining traction and this is likely to continue.

He said: “The more these models are given agency, where they can ‘think and do’ by themselves and interact with other EUC [end-user computing] processes, the more the need to ensure a robust governance structure is in place.”

Sher stressed that insurers “should now be thinking about how they implement governance, control and automation solutions and policies” given the rise of agentic AI.

“This approach should not stifle innovation, but equally should also avoid the same EUC governance, automation, scalability and key person risks as spreadsheet usage does,” Sher added.

Sher described the widespread adoption of AI/Gen AI within actuarial teams as “inevitable”, even if the specifics of how and for are yet to be determined.

“For example, we have developed an agentic AI solution that, given a data file and a specified actuarial objective (e.g. “fit a … model to …”), iteratively solves for the solution. We also use AI to automate data transformations from source data to analytic model data schemas, and to automate data science pipelines.”

Zenith Actuarial won Solvency II solution of the year award for its evo-insight solution in InsuranceERM’s 2024 UK & Europe awards.

The actuarial and technology consultancy also features in InsuranceERM’s technology guide 2024/25 .

Article published by Ronan McCaughey at InsuranceERM - 17 April 2025.

Bridging the EUC Scaling Gap

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 11:32:45 GMT

evo-insight no-code solutions

In today’s evolving business landscape, the ability to swiftly build analytical models to address emerging needs is crucial for operational efficiency and growth opportunities. This agility is often facilitated by End-User Computing (EUC) solutions, with Excel being a ubiquitous tool across organisations. Excel allows users to rapidly develop models that embed their intellectual property (IP), analyse data, iterate over solutions, and perform calculations without needing to engage corporate IT. For this reason, professionals across various functions rely on Excel daily.

The widespread use of Excel, and the problems it brings

While Excel is powerful and easy to use, it is not without its drawbacks. Spreadsheets initially built as short-term tactical solutions often evolve into core components of business-critical processes. This evolution introduces operational inefficiencies, risks, and scaling limitations due to several factors:

Combining input data, calculations, and results in the same worksheet, leads to complexity and risk when updating data or assumptions.
Needing static versions of results leads to duplication of workbooks and multiple versions emerging.
Embedding comments within workbooks and the lack of unit and regression testing, results in change, audit, and control risks.
Key person risk, where a single user knows and understands the workbook.
Challenges in scaling across multiple users and departments accessing the workbook and handling processing and data storage volumes.
General version and audit control risks.

The EUC-Scaling Gap

Businesses recognise these issues and often wish to develop and deploy an “enterprise IT process” to replace the EUC process. However, the cost and effort to develop an IT solution significantly exceeds the ongoing effort to maintain and extend the EUC process. This situation creates what we call the “EUC-Scaling Gap.”

Several factors contribute to this gap:

Competing priorities for scarce IT resources.
The requirement for the EUC process owner to thoroughly document the existing process and specify the IT solution, often with limited knowledge of the full workings of the existing EUC process.
The resource requirements to test, audit, and sign-off the IT solution.
The elapsed time to build the solution and specify, develop, and deploy updates with associated delivery risk.
The inevitable scope creep, infrastructure, IT security, and other development and deployment risks within IT solutions.

As a result, while businesses recognise that the EUC estate is sub-optimal with significant operational risks and scaling limitations, the alternative corporate IT solution is typically not practical or considered high enough priority or cost justified. Consequently, these processes continue to exist, grow, and add further risk and inefficiencies.

Introducing evo-insight

Zenith Actuarial’s evo-insight, enhances scalability, governance, and efficiency, helping firms navigate the EUC scaling gap. It is a no-code, cloud-based platform that embeds the workbook within a governed enterprise web application, quickly solving the EUC problem without huge time, effort, or cost. This approach offers several key benefits:

Leveraging existing analytics and IP: evo-insight allows users to leverage their existing analytics and IP without modification. There is no need to document, specify, develop, and test the analytics, which significantly reduces the time and effort required to transition from EUC to an enterprise solution.
Instant updates: Updates to the workbook can be applied in a secure, governed manner, so ownership of the model is maintained, but these then automatically become available in the web application, ensuring that the latest data and models are always in use.
Workflow automation: evo-insight replicates VBA macros and incorporates workflow and automation, streamlining processes and reducing manual intervention.
Scalable compute and storage: The platform provides access to scalable compute and storage to parallelize execution and dramatically reduce elapsed processing time.
Separation of data, comments, and results storage: By separating data, comments, and results storage, evo-insight reduces versioning issues and increases audit control.
Web application for multi-user access: The platform offers a web application for multi-user access and results dashboard visualisation, facilitating collaboration and real-time updates, whilst avoiding duplication and diversification of workbooks.

Martin Sher, COO of Zenith Actuarial, explains:

"Many firms face a dilemma - Excel offers flexibility, but as models grow in complexity, so do operational risks. evo-insight bridges this gap by transforming EUC processes into governed, scalable enterprise solutions without disrupting existing workflows. Our no-code approach empowers users to retain their intellectual property while ensuring efficiency, compliance, and security."

Empowering Innovation and Efficiency

By bridging the EUC-Scaling Gap, evo-insight enables businesses to maintain the agility of EUC solutions while evolving towards an enterprise IT approach with minimal effort. Its no-code framework democratizes technology, allowing users to build applications and analyse data without technical expertise.

As businesses navigate increasing complexity in data analytics and decision-making, evo-insight provides a seamless solution that balances innovation with governance.

For more information, contact us at enquiries@zenithactuarial.com .

Solvency II Solution of the Year

Thu, 07 Mar 2024 09:53:00 GMT

We are delighted that our evo-insight no-code modelling solution has won the prestigious InsuranceERM’s Annual UK & Europe Awards 2024 Solvency II Solution of the Year .

The judges felt that “ evo-insight stood out as a comprehensive solution for Solvency II, seamlessly combining pre-built and bespoke business applications with advanced analytics.”

Through evo-insight our clients do not need to build or maintain their own models, workflows and infrastructure. Instead users can benefit from our investment in evo-insight with a subscribe and configure approach to a full suite of “end to end” Solvency II and financial reporting applications and tools. These also cover many insurance processes such as business planning, ORSA, bonus reviews, experience analysis, pricing and product development. Our approach enables clients to rapidly bring enhanced insights to the business to support tactical and strategic decision making.

This suite of pre-built and maintained business applications uniquely integrates the analytics with data validation and storage, workflow, scalable compute and results visualisation by harnessing cloud-based technology, expertise, and data insights to empower our clients and enhance risk management.

At Zenith Actuarial, we believe that success is a collaborative journey. This achievement would not have been possible without the dedication of our talented team and support from our clients.

Learn more about Zenith – evo-insight

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Are you looking to rapidly to convert your complex spreadsheets into powerful web applications?

Mon, 18 Dec 2023 09:37:00 GMT

Spreadsheets are a critical component in actuarial, finance, pricing, and underwriting processes. However, these complex spreadsheets , often with embedded VBA macros , typically present numerous challenges related to governance, performance, automation, and ability to communicate insights to users and stakeholders.  

Recoding spreadsheets into a web application is one option but IT   and SME   resource constraints   typically   mitigate this approach. Zeniths   evo-insight   provides an alternative,   multifaceted approach   by embedding spreadsheet within a scalable analytical web application. The   evo-insight   embedding process   is described below.   

Step 1.   Embedding   – Via the   evo-insight   platform a spreadsheet is “embedded” within a web application   allowing for passing of values to the embedded spreadsheet, recalculating the workbook and return ing   selected results to the user. 

Step 2.   Replication of VBA macros   – The embedding process integrates VBA macro logic such as iteration loops within the structure of the web application   

  Step 3.   Loading Data –   Via the   web application   users can load the input data   and review   

Step 4.   Auto Scaling   – The application then runs on the   evo-insight   platform which features workflow and auto-scaling. This means even the most complex analytical spreadsheets, including stochastic workbooks and valuation models across a large data set,   can be run quickly and efficiently – in a few minutes at most!   

  Step 5. Data & Results Storage – All input data and results are stored in evo-insights data repositories aiding auditability and analytics

  Step 6. Visualisation –   U sers can review the results via interactive dashboards, change data and assumptions and rerun as required to gain further insights into strategic and tactical sensitivity impacts  

Step 7.   Generate Analytics & Reports – The application incorporates advanced analytical and AI capabilities providing deep business insight into the results.    evo-insight also comes with standard reports which users can generate directly from the user interface

The   evo-insight   is   much more than just a spreadsheet management tool – its comprehensive range of capabilities include storage, governance, versioning, workflow, visualisation, pdf generation as well as AI.  

For further information on how evo-insigh t can rapidly convert your complex spreadsheet into a scalable web application and how our team of experienced consultants can assist you, please contact Dan (dan.wainwright@zenithactuarial.com) or Martin (martin.sher@zenithactuarial.com),

evo-insight – delivering governed analytics rapidly into the hands of users!    

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Are you struggling to provide accurate, timely information for business planning?

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 12:44:00 GMT

Are you struggling to provide accurate, timely information for business planning?

Finance departments are continuously seeking to support the business planning and decision-making process in a governed, rapid, and responsive manner . Much of the information typically resides in complex spreadsheets. Whilst the spreadsheets are essential to the process, they also create a number of operational challenges ranging from governance, change control, versioning through to performance. An additional critical challenge is that existing MI solutions do not seamlessly integrate with underlying calculation engines to perform critical “what if” analysis.

evo-insight has been designed to solve these challenges by:

All within the performant, scalable evo-insight platform, with built-in governance, security, and version controls

evo-insight – delivering governed analytics rapidly into the hands of users

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Accelerating Product Development & Pricing with evo-insight

Thu, 23 Nov 2023 17:53:00 GMT

Accelerating Product Development & Pricing with evo-insight

Insurers seeking to develop new products or reprice existing ones typically have to build models in either their legacy actuarial modelling solution, spreadsheets, or other tools such as Python and R. In all these “ build and maintain” approaches the modelling team are responsible for the code development, testing, maintenance, infrastructure, and operational usage.

In contrast, evo-insight provides a unique new approach that allows actuaries to subscribe, configure and visualise their required analytics without coding! The rich and mature suite of no code product applications includes term assurance, income protection, unit linked and with profits products. Actuaries can configure their unique product features, set assumptions, enter data, run models, and visualise results delivering governed analytics rapidly into the hands of users!

evo-insight also ensures that all the applications are kept up to date in terms of evolving product features, modelling approaches, regulatory and market changes with full documentation to aid audit and governance. Utilising the same underlying valuation cashflow models evo-insight provides seamless and consistent transition from product development to regular BAU reporting.

Specific product development features include:

All evo-insight applications are built and maintained by Zenith’s specialist consultants

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Zenith’s new Solvency II Market Insights AI Service

Tue, 14 Nov 2023 08:34:00 GMT

We are pleased to announce the launch of our Market Insights AI service powered by evo-insight . Leveraging PRA monthly Solvency II data, this service provides users with an interactive AI driven experience coupled with a Chatbot capability to source and visualise market insights. To try out the service visit the Market Insights AI page

The Key Features of the Service include:

The Solvency II Market Insights Service will be available monthly via the Zenith Website. To receive notifications please register on the website or contact us.

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No Code Applications for Bulk Purchase Annuities

Fri, 06 Oct 2023 14:41:00 GMT

The Bulk Purchase Annuity (BPA) market in the UK has been growing rapidly and is set to expand further with new entrants joining the existing participants.

At Zenith we have a wealth of experience helping both new and existing BPA insurers with their complex actuarial modelling needs related to bulk purchase annuities. Our expertise has been embodied in evo-insight which incorporates a suite of no code, hosted actuarial applications specifically tailored to meet the analytical needs of the BPA participants. These applications are equally relevant for other life insurers and cover a wide range of actuarial functionalities including:

Unlike traditional actuarial modelling systems, all the evo-insight applications are available on a subscription fee basis and fully maintained by Zenith. These pre-built applications are complete with integrated data warehousing, workflow, scalable on-demand compute, results storage, and insightful analytics.

Use evo-insight to rapidly bring governed BPA analytics into the hands of users.

For a discussion on how evo-insight can help you please contact Dan (dan.wainwright@zenithactuarial.com) or Martin (martin.sher@zenithactuarial.com)

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Reform of the Matching Adjustment

Mon, 02 Oct 2023 13:28:00 GMT

PRA Solvency II reforms: CP19/23 Reform of the Matching Adjustment

From our work supporting many UK insurers, we appreciate that the Solvency UK reforms will be a key focus for the industry for the remainder of 2023 and through 2024.

Clearly those insurers with annuity portfolios, particularly the large bulk annuity writers, should find the MA changes welcome (and expected) news. The ability to include additional assets into the MA portfolio, plus the removal of technical restrictions on the likes of sub-investment grade bonds, open up the way to utilise wider investment opportunities which a number of firms are already exploring.

However, this apparent relaxation is tempered by the PRA in a number of areas, including a restriction on the percentage of portfolio that can be invested in assets with “highly predictable cashflows”. In addition, the PRA expects governance to adhere to the Prudent Person Principle, and now also to the new MA Attestation requirement.

The attestation process raises some interesting aspects, such as the responsibility expected to (generally) be with the CFO, with technical points such as the “high degree of confidence” part of the standard wording, which would indicate that firms will need to demonstrate that this is more likely than a best estimate, and numerous issues to consider relating to internal credit ratings applied to any assets.

For those firms that do not have large annuity portfolios, and other firms that have income protection business, or business that has guaranteed policy cashflows, the MA proposals should also be welcome and could offer opportunities. Such firms might be unlikely to use the additional asset freedoms, but nevertheless they should now find that the potential to gain regulatory approval and ongoing use of an MA is less of a hurdle. The attestation process might not be too onerous if fairly standard assets are used, and the relaxation of the administrative rules surrounding any breaches of MA conditions (eg a 2-month window, and a staged reduction to the MA if MA compliance is not restored) would help such firms in terms of processes and management of the MA. For these firms, an MA could give capital benefits for existing business, and potentially give added viability to new business opportunities.

At Zenith Actuarial we have significant experience and expertise in helping our clients consider such opportunities and would be pleased to assist – contact Dan Wainwright (dan.wainwright@zenithactuarial.com) for further information.

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Auto-Scaling of Stochastic Spreadsheet Models with evo-insight

Thu, 28 Sep 2023 11:00:00 GMT

The financial services sector frequently utilises complex, stochastic spreadsheet models, which can contain months or years of valuable development work and IP. Often, these spreadsheets need to access externally generated scenario files or use Excel’s random distribution generators within the spreadsheet model itself.

In either event, there will inevitably be a VBA macro to iterate across the scenarios to change the inputs and store the outputs for subsequent aggregation, analysis, and reporting. In such situations, spreadsheets often have inherent performance and operational risk challenges, with excessive run-times for multiple iterations on a single machine and lack of security, versioning, and access control.

evo-insight addresses the performance limitations by embedding the workbook and VBA macro within a cloud hosted business application, enabling the calculations to be automatically distributed across on-demand, auto-scaling compute, and storage infrastructure. The result is that thousands of scenarios can take the same time to run as a single iteration.

The evo-insight business application also places governance and version controls around the spreadsheet model. It provides insightful analytics to visualise and report on the model outputs to “rapidly bring governed analytics into the hands of users” without any need to rewrite the tested model.

From a practical perspective evo-insight’s embedding process is simple and quick, so future updates to the underlying spreadsheet models can easily be uploaded and the version history tracked. Importantly the application can be connected via a standard API, to other enterprise systems such as core administration and quotation systems, to enable end to end processes to be modelled and executed in a fully secure and scalable environment.

For more information including a demonstration please contact Dan (dan.wainwright@zenithactuarial.com) or Martin (martin.sher@zenithactuarial.com)

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Discussing technology trends in the InsuranceERM technology guide

Tue, 12 Sep 2023 09:25:00 GMT

We are delighted that t he Insurance ERM 23/24 Enterprise Risk Management Technology Guide features an interview with our Commercial Director Dan Wainwright in which he discusses how evo-insight supports insurers to rapidly deliver governed analytics into the hands of users via no code actuarial models, embedded spreadsheets and insightful analytics.

You can read the interview on the InsuranceERM site.

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Delivering Governed Analytics Rapidly into the Hands of Users

Mon, 11 Sep 2023 09:07:00 GMT

The insurance market is a dynamic and increasingly complex environment. This has led to growing demands on actuarial and finance departments to produce new and enhanced analytics, to support strategic and tactical decision making.

However, responsiveness is hampered by legacy technology, and bespoke models which soak up resources to develop, maintain and run. These models also tend to focus on the analytics and data processing, providing limited reporting and data visualisation insights.

To mitigate these limitations, actuarial and finance departments often resort to “one-off spreadsheets” which then grow and become part of reporting processes, resulting in their own End User Computing (EUC) operational and governance issues.

Recognising the challenge to deliver governed analytics rapidly into the hands of users, we have developed evo-insight, which moves beyond typical actuarial modelling solutions by fusing three core components together, operating on the scalable Azure platform.

Rich Suite of no code Actuarial & Business Applications

Firstly, the evo-insight APP Store contains a suite of applications relevant to all the main sectors of the life insurance market, each application is pre-built and maintained by Zenith , requiring only minimal configuration (no coding!). Applications can be configured and deployed in a fraction of the time of traditional actuarial models – saving insurers time and money and freeing up skilled resources to focus on more demanding tasks, such as interpreting results and considering what added value actions can be implemented. The suite includes liability cashflow, asset cashflow, and capital models, with embedded workflow, governance, and pre-built reports and dashboards.

As well as providing a “heavy” actuarial liability and asset cashflow model evo-insight addresses other business problems including, for example Capital Modelling, Business Planning and “what-if” projections (tailored to specific businesses such as bulk annuity, protection etc, where needed), ORSA analysis and projections, product development and pricing applications, assessing Matching Adjustment portfolios, plus other applications such as Policy Illustrations / PRIIPs and applications for business compliance such as dealing with Consumer Duty reporting.

Embedded Spreadsheets

Secondly, we recognise that Spreadsheets contain valuable business IP and are often key components of the reporting process – but the challenge is managing them within a governed, performant, workflow driven environment. evo-insight solves these problems by embedding spreadsheets (including VBA macros) within a secure web application. Linking multiple spreadsheets together and distributing them across a scalable compute infrastructure evo-insight significantly reduces runtimes, which is a significant advantage for complex spreadsheets such as stochastic models.

Insightful Analytics  

Thirdly , advanced, insightful analytics are fully integrated within each of the evo-insight applications. This supports strategic and tactical business analysis and decision making and includes pre-built reports and interactive dashboards. Dashboards can be designed for a range of users such as actuaries, CFOs and CROs. This capability means that bespoke analytics do not need to be developed, saving time and effort. Custom analytics can also be developed.

To complete the end-to-end service, Zenith manages all aspects of evo-insight and offers a range of advisory and configuration services in respect of the applications. This is supported by our team of consultants who have a wealth of experience in the insurance domain.  Additionally, the team can develop custom applications for clients, embed existing client spreadsheets within new applications, or tailor existing applications for client specific needs.

For more information see our evo-insight page.

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2023 – The Next Phase of the IFRS 17 Journey!

Thu, 24 Aug 2023 16:38:00 GMT

Many insurers have now reported their 2023 HY results for the first time. This is clearly a major milestone. However, from our discussion with clients this is being viewed as just the beginning of the next phase of the project. Namely, how to ensure IFRS 17 is fully operational and understood within the business and beyond.

In this phase insurers face a number of challenges to ensure demonstrable compliance whilst they endeavour to drive business benefits from the process.

How Can Zenith Help?

Our team has a significant amount of expertise having worked on numerous IFRS 17 projects and are available to help you in the final stages of your project whether that be reviewing your models and processes, analysing results, or carrying out comparisons with your peers.

Additionally, Zenith’ s new evo-insight solution is designed to deliver governed analytics rapidly into the hands of users. The analytics provi de insights into the fundamentals of the business, and not only can we look at current perspectives we can also project metrics and KPIs into future planning periods without having to rerun heavy actuarial models.

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Experience as a Placement Year Student – Craig and Irfan

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 13:55:00 GMT

1) What was your expectation of a placement year before you started at Zenith?

2) What does a typical day-to-day look like for a placement year at Zenith?

3) What are two valuable things that you have learned during your placement year that you did not learn in university?

4) What would you advise students who are looking into doing an actuarial placement year?

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Driving value from your ORSA

Tue, 04 Jul 2023 14:40:00 GMT

Embed your ORSA process within an evo-insight business application.

ORSAs have been operational for a number of years and Solvency II remains a key metric for insurers. However, given the computation and operation complexities involved, to date the ORSA has tended to be performed once or twice a year some months after the effective date. In today’s market, management and boards want a more pro-active frequent approach to aid strategic and operational decision making in an agile and flexible manner in response to emerging internal and external market factors.

There are two key elements to the OSRA process; firstly, developing and running the underlying heavy actuarial models which generate the cashflows and results for the required scenarios and stresses. Secondly there are the reporting overlays that typically collate the cashflows, asset and other out of model data, and calculate and present in various tables and charts the projected capital, balance sheets and income statements for the various scenarios as the source for reports and presentations. These overlays tend to be performed in Excel spreadsheets which may also have embedded VBA macros to support workflow automation and the calculation processing.

Collectively, this process requires heavy model development and maintenance, large compute and storage infrastructure and suffers from standard spreadsheet end user computing (EUC) maintenance and governance issues. Consequently, the process is typically resource intensive, out of date when presented, inflexible in response to changing market conditions, is operationally inefficient and fails to the meet the growing demands for interactive forecasting and “what-if” analyses.

Zenith’s evo-insight uniquely addresses these issues:

1. evo-insight has a rich and mature “no code” library of asset and liability cashflow models which are fully maintained by Zenith. These models can be easily configured, with no model changes, to reflect emerging product structures, assumptions and ORSA scenarios. And as it runs on the evo-insight platform it can produce results rapidly due to the virtually unlimited processing power of Azure.

2. evo-insight can embed existing spreadsheets and VBA macros within a web application to provide the required governance and control, user friendly dashboards, “what if” interactions and storage, and production of pdf reports. The spreadsheets may either leverage the evo-insight “no code” derived cashflows or those from existing cashflow engines.

As an alternative to embedding existing ORSA spreadsheets, Zenith consultants have extensive experience in developing rich interactive “what if” ORSA reporting tools and spreadsheets to support the desired strategic and operation and decision making.

An example of an interactive dashboard is illustrated below

Collectively, evo-insight supports getting the ORSA into the hands of the CFO, Boards, and other decision makers rapidly via configurable models, workflow automation, scalable compute and storage, interactive hosted web applications and pdf report generation all within a governed environment.

For more information, please contact us at enquiries@zenithactuarial.com

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evo-insight simplifies and automates your PRIIPs process

Fri, 16 Jun 2023 15:50:00 GMT

Using evo-insight to Produce PRIIPs Key Information Documents.

Background

Manufacturers of Packaged Retail and Insurance-Based Investment Products (PRIIPs) are required to provide investors with a Key Information Document (KID) for each product being sold with the objective to provide information about the risk and potential returns on the product thereby enabling customers to make informed decisions regarding their investment. The KID needs to be updated, as a minimum, every year and cannot exceed three pages.

The numerical data in the documents has to include a risk rating (1 to 7) for the product, the charges and their impact on yield. Originally it was mandated that the potential value of the investment coupled with performance scenarios based on unfavourable, moderate and favourable scenarios must be provided. In the UK (who diverge from Europe following Brexit) this requirement has now been replaced with narrative information on the key factors upon which the return depends, the underlying assets or reference values, and how the return is determined. But for all practical purposes the calculations remain a requirement.

The regulations specify a methodology setting out the calculations for returns, impact of charges and risk ratings are to be performed. Depending on the nature of the product, the analytics for potential investment performance could involve stochastic or deterministic calculations.

Challenges for Insurers

– Getting the correct numerical data is proving to be one of the most challenging aspects often requiring new processes. This is further complicated by the fact that data, including historical data, often comes from different service providers and may be missing.

– Insurers often have a myriad of products for which they need to generate the analytics which may vary by product type.

– Some products will require stochastic calculations increasing the complexity and time involved in generating each set of information.

– It may be necessary to create a KID that is specific to each investor rather than the product, further increasing the amount of work involved.

In many Insurers the PRIIPs analytics is built around spreadsheets (typically including VBA macros) which are difficult to maintain, control and audit.

How does evo-insight solve the problem?

1. Zenith has proven PRIIPs models backed by a team of consultants with real world experience implementing PRIIPs in insurers.

2. Pre-built Business Applications with embedded PRIIPs analytics which can be easily configured to reflect a range of different product types – effectively incorporating variants by product type.

3. Zenith maintains the application in line with regulatory changes.

4. Improved governance via version control, input data templates and results storage which give both a current and historic perspective and comparisons over time.

5. Automation to generate the numerical data for the KID documents as required.

6. Based on Microsoft’s AZURE evo-insight provides virtually unlimited processing power on demand ensuring that high volumes of calculations, even stochastic, can be processed quickly and efficiently.

Alternatively insurers can embed their own PRIIPS spreadsheets, including any VBA macro, within a custom evo-insight Business Application to provide a governed, scalable and user-friendly hosted web application.

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Supercharge your Spreadsheets with evo-insight

Mon, 12 Jun 2023 16:02:00 GMT

Embedding Spreadsheets and VBA macros within a powerful evo-insight business web application

evo-insight is Zeniths’ new modelling and analytical platform designed to rapidly deliver governed analytics directly to internal and external users such as actuaries, CFO/CFOs, policyholders and others. It provides both pre-built and custom business applications that are fully configurable.

Importantly it, uniquely offers the capability to embed existing spreadsheets and VBA macros within a powerful evo-insight web application. This runs much faster and provides a controlled environment where users can easily run and rerun the application based on thousands of scenarios and assumptions sets. It’s achieved within a secure, workflow driven environment for automation and control.

The evo-insight web application also enables users to automatically spread calculations across multiple machines to provide speed and scalability. This means that even complex VBA workbooks with embedded macros, what-ifs, and looped calculations can be replicated easily and run rapidly on the platform. Full versioning and change control is embedded for governance and the results can be presented in a graphical format for easy analysis.

A simple example will help to illustrate this.

Zenith took a VBA pricing workbook based on thousands of generated scenarios and differing assumption sets. Processing on a single machine it took some 10 hours to run, and reruns based on a different number of scenarios or assumptions equally took the same time. Replicated in evo-insight the application was spread across 60 machines and run in under 30 minutes – a massive reduction in time. As evo-insight uses scalable compute resource, more machines could be used to further reduce run times or increase the number of scenarios/assumptions sets within the same timescales.

Importantly acceleration was not the only benefit – users are able to see the results in graphical format and via the user interface, rerun the application based on a differing number of scenarios or differing assumptions and rerun quickly. And again, with the graphical output enabling users to quickly compare and contrast results and decide on the optional choice.

We are confident that with evo-insight we can take easily take your spreadsheets and VBA workbooks and demonstrate just how easy it is to embed them within a powerful web application controlled by the users.

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Our Graduate Students: One Year On

Tue, 25 Oct 2022 12:03:00 GMT

Christos and Jenny joined the Zenith Team last year as Graduate Analysts, after competing degrees at the The University of Manchester and Newcastle University.

We can’t believe a whole year has passed since they joined the team, so we caught up with the two of them to find out more about their time at Zenith so far.

To learn more about their experiences over the past year and what advice they would give to current students who are exploring the actuarial career path, click here to watch our graduate employee video.

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HM Treasury publishes consultation on Solvency II review

Wed, 04 May 2022 14:53:00 GMT

Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) has published consultation on Solvency II review, detailing the UK government’s package of proposed reforms to the prudential regulatory regime for insurance firms. The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has also published a discussion paper DP2/22, setting out its view on the proposals. The consultation will run for 12 weeks, with responses due by 21 July 2022.

Below is a summary of what the proposed reforms cover.

Risk Margin

Issues with current methodology:

Reform proposals

Matching Adjustment

Issues with current methodology:

Proposed reforms

Investment flexibility

Reporting and Administrative burden

Zenith comment

Zenith Actuarial welcomes the proposed changes. The capital savings from the reform package remain uncertain, particularly for those insurers that have a significant Matching Adjustment benefit currently (mainly annuity writers), but other insurers should see a more stable and significantly improved capital position. If you would like to understand the implications of these proposals on your business, please get in touch and we would be happy to assist.

Link to HMT consultation: 20220328_Review_of_Solvency_II_Consultation.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Link to DP2/22: DP2/22 – Potential Reforms to Risk Margin and Matching Adjustment within Solvency II | Bank of England

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Meet the Team: Tim Bateman, Senior Actuary

Thu, 21 Apr 2022 11:01:00 GMT

How did you become an actuary?

At my school in High Wycombe during sixth form, a life insurance company called Equity & Law invited some of us for an open day, so I became acquainted with actuarial work then. However, when I left school, I was pretty determined to be a teacher, so I got a post-graduate certificate in education, then taught Maths for 2 years in Falmouth, Cornwall. It was a beautiful place, and I got to see it outside the tourist season which was great. Ultimately though, I decided that teaching wasn’t quite right for me. The good bit was teaching A-Level students, who were interested and wanted to do Maths, and the bad bit was teaching the 12–13-year-olds who weren’t!

So, at the time when you left school to go into teaching, did it feel like a vocation?

Yes, I suppose it was. Both of my parents were teachers, so I think that influenced my decision, but I also reckoned I could do a better job than they could! My girlfriend at the time and I did our teacher training together, which was quite a strong pull towards my decision to teach as well.

Do you feel as though you got a lot out of teaching?

Definitely. On the one hand, it helped me decide what I didn’t want to do long-term, but also, teaching thirty 11–18-year-olds everyday was great training for my presentation skills. They’re still the toughest crowd I’ve ever had to speak in front of, so ultimately, being a teacher gave me a lot of confidence. I’ve got a massive amount of admiration for teachers; I really don’t know how they do it.

After you decided that it wasn’t for you, did you go straight into actuarial services?

I did. After I left teaching and applied for actuarial work, I ended up working at the firm I visited in sixth form. At the time, actuarial degrees weren’t around, so I was able to go straight into employment with them. I think actuarial work had always been a fall-back option for me since visiting the firm at school, and I’d often wonder about it as a career during university. When I joined the firm at High Wycombe, it appealed to me very quickly, and it didn’t take long before I realised my love of numbers was actually quite helpful for actuarial work.

You mentioned taking on very responsible roles during your career, what do you mean?

I was fortunate enough to get a job with Equitable Life after it had run into trouble, and was brought in when they needed somebody to lead the actuarial team and be Chief Actuary, so I felt very lucky to be given that position. I also got the opportunity to be Finance Director there, which was a huge learning opportunity. It took many years to finally wind up the business and during the time I was there I had the privilege to work with lots of great people.

Did you take a well-earned rest when you left?

Yes, it was the longest break I have ever had, which I think was 6 weeks! To be honest, I was ready to get back to work. I think I was also a little bit terrified I wouldn’t get another job! So, I ended up working for a firm of consultants, which is where I met Scott. I worked there for a couple of years during which I got to know him, and even after I left, we still kept in touch, and eventually, he tempted me to work with him again just last year.

You must still enjoy actuarial consultancy work though, working for Zenith?

The forever changing nature of it is great. You often don’t know what’s going to come along and there’s so many surprises in this type of job. On some days, nothing happens, but then, on other days it is raining opportunities. And that’s one of the great things about Zenith is that, although I have been an actuary and a consultant for quite a few years, there are opportunities to continue to learn and develop.

Would you say that your excitement for actuarial consultancy work also comes from working on the business as much as working in the business?

Yes, working on the business and helping to develop its opportunities is very important to me and something which I really enjoy doing. It’s great at Zenith too. The brand name is starting to get out there and lots more people want to know about what we can do and how we might be able to help them. Scott encourages us to get out and have those conversations, and often, we can work together to bring out the different qualities and areas of expertise we can provide at Zenith.

Can you outline the projects that you get involved in?

It is very varied, which I thoroughly enjoy. Presently I have a role as a with-profits actuary for a large proprietary company, I am Chief Actuary for the UK branch of an International Life Insurer and I am assisting on some product pricing and development work for a UK friendly society. Most recently, I have been peer reviewing year end reports, so all in all a great deal of variety!

Did you find that coronavirus had a big impact on your role as an actuary?

That’s an interesting question for Zenith. I’m based down in Berkhamsted, so with or without coronavirus, I would not be in the office in Manchester, other than on rare occasions. So in that sense, I think Zenith has set itself up very well as a remote operating company. From day one of lockdown, my laptop arrived early, and I was up and running by lunchtime, which was pretty impressive. I’ve certainly spent a lot of time messing around with IT when I worked for other firms. We also do our stand-up call every morning, so if we’re available we’ll get on the call and discuss everything that needs to be done. That’s also very helpful because you get to see people’s faces, who’s working on what, and a much better sense of what’s going on in the business. It was great last October, when we had a team get-together, because I got to meet everyone face to face and spend more time finding out about everybody.

Was the October meet-up used to do any business development, or was it purely just to get to know each other better?

The first day of the meet-up was mainly about getting to know everyone, and then the second day was more work-oriented. We worked on business development, had discussions about what makes us different from other consultancies, and our vision as a company. We also thought about how we approach things, and whether there was anything we weren’t doing that we should be doing. There were some great discussions over those few days.

What does make Zenith different then?

Our bread and butter as a business is taking on the actuarial function for insurance companies, and the way we do that is very well-managed and understood. As a company, we’re constantly looking at the areas where we have challenges, and what needs doing to keep everything working efficiently. Those processes work really well, and once you get them working, it makes the rest of the work we do a lot easier. Scott and Martin have also done an excellent job of bringing in complimentary skills for Zenith. We’ve got lots of people with different backgrounds and experience, which means we can apply ourselves to a lot of different aspects of actuarial consultancy work.

So, if I can take you away from the actuarial world for a moment, what do you do outside of work?

I’ve got myself a little bit obsessed with the Tudors at the moment and was absolutely absorbed in Hilary Mantel’s trilogy of books about Thomas Cromwell. I picked up her first book, Wolf Hall, at an airport one day and that was it, I was hooked! I’m also a chap who enjoys the odd crossword or sudoku game. But then, when I’m not doing any of those things, I like to have a glass of wine and something nice to eat!

Who’s inspired you in your life?

I think when I got into the actuarial world, there were a few people who I found quite inspiring, particularly the way they approached their work. I had one boss from Equity & Law called John Chatterton, who I still know today, who was such a nice guy and a brilliant technical actuary.

Final question, if you were having a dinner party, and could invite three guests, historical or current, who would you invite and what would you cook?

Three people I’d like to chat with are: David Bowie, I’d love to talk to him about his life and his upbringing. Another would be Hilary Mantel, to hear more about the Tudors from her, and probably Nelson Mandela, who I think is such a fascinating man. But I wouldn’t cook, I wouldn’t be allowed! My wife would tell me to get somebody in, and I think I’d choose, just for sheer fun, Jamie Oliver!

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Actuarial ‘Analytics as a Service’ in Practice

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 08:27:00 GMT

How ‘Analytics as a Service’ can benefit the actuarial world

By COO, Martin Sher

What is analytics as a service?

Over the last number of years, adoption of cloud based “as a Service” offerings such as ‘Software-as-a-Service’ and ‘Platform-as-a-Service’ by insurers has increased significantly. This includes email, data storage, administration systems and many other IT solutions.

The commonality of “as a service” offerings are that they are developed, maintained and hosted online by the vendor, charged for on a subscription usage basis and accessed via a web-browser. This is in contrast to licensed on-premise solutions with associated infrastructure, system integration and IT support costs borne by the insurer.

As cloud computing has matured these “as a Service” offerings have now evolved to include “Analytics as a Service” that covers the end-to-end capabilities of an analytical solution, from data acquisition to end-user visualization, reporting and interaction . (Jayaraman et al, 2016).

This “as a Service” approach to using technology can bring significant benefits in terms of:

According to DSX Hub “This type of (analytics as a service) solution allows companies to access data analysis without having to develop in-house technology, which can reduce costs and reap the benefits more quickly.” (DSX Hub, 2020).

Actuarial “Analytics as Service” – an opportunity to create efficiencies

One area of life insurance IT that has largely retained the historic “licensed desktop on-premise” model is actuarial modelling software. Under this model insurers pay an upfront and annual license fee, actuaries develop and maintain their own actuarial models and run the models either on their own infrastructure or on one acquired from a cloud provider.

At their core these solutions are programming environments in which each client’s models are unique and divergent from any “samples” provided by the vendor. Any updates to, for example, allow for new regulations or modelling approaches, are the responsibility of the client modelling team. This often leads to large in-house actuarial teams being effectively software development and model processing teams rather than being focused on providing actuarial insights and interpretations of the results.

Further, the need for inhouse teams to develop and maintain the models as well as host and run the models often leads to resourcing constraints. This has a knock on effect in terms of business responsiveness to regulatory and methodological enhancements, additional investigations, product development and general producing of timely management information. All of which are needed to assist with the strategic governance of the company.

In the face of these bottlenecks, a plethora of “out of model” spreadsheets and other solutions have evolved as well as an increased usage of external contractors and consultants.

The Zenith Solution

Recognising, when we started to develop our actuarial modelling solution to support our outsourced consulting services across a range of clients, that we at Zenith would face similar challenges should we adopt the traditional actuarial modelling technology approach, we have developed and adopted a cloud first actuarial “Analytics as a Service” model.

Our Portal is a single model across all our clients which has been written for and optimised for cloud computing. The model covers all liability product and asset instrument types, has built in Solvency II stresses and analysis of change, as well as a flexible data, product configuration, assumption setting and reporting capabilities to allow for client specifics. Following best IT practices these models have full version control, unit and regression tests and adopt QA standards that would be expected of any corporate IT solutions.

Meaningful analysis in record times

The “maths” is fully integrated with enterprise scalable data and results preparation and storage, workflow and reporting. Rather than having to build and maintain models and infrastructure our users (internal and external) can focus on “ Subscribe, Configure and Visualise ” with the objective of being able to produce meaningful results within 30 minutes. This may be a full valuation or, for example, an “out the box” product development environment to supplement and existing actuarial modelling solution.

This is coupled with our team of experienced consultants to provide an integrated “people + technology” actuarial “Analytics as a Service” offering either on a fully outsourced or co-sourced solution.

The benefits clients gain from utilising the Zenith Portal

Besides the direct cost (technology and people) benefits that this pre-built hosted solution offers, the Portal also offers a number of additional benefits such as:

Leveraging the Portal in Strategic Decision Making

As with all technology we are continuously enhancing our Portal. Given the breadth and depth of our analytics, our current focus is on bringing the actuarial analysis into the strategic decision making of our clients. This is via a suite of “business applications” and dashboards that allow business users to directly interact with the results and drill down into the results and perform “what if” adjustments to base results. Such business applications include projected year-end capital forecasts, regular business plan updates, investment portfolio optimisations, experience investigations and many other actuarial investigations.

To find out more as to how our technology offerings can drive strategic and cost benefits to your organisation and be seamlessly adopted, please contact me.

References:

Crane, P. (2020, August 3). What is Analytics as a Service – and what are the benefits? [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.augmentedinsights.co.uk/what-is-analytics-as-a-service-and-what-are-the-benefits/?cn-reloaded=1

DSX Hub . (2020, October 5). Analytics as a Service: What is data analysis as a service? [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.dsxhub.org/analytics-as-a-service-what-is-data-analysis-as-a-service/

Jayaraman, Perera, C., Georgakopoulos, D., Dustdar, S., Thakker, D., & Ranjan, R. (2017). Analytics-as-a-service in a multi-cloud environment through semantically-enabled hierarchical data processing: ANALYTICS-AS-A-SERVICE. Software, Practice & Experience, 47(8), 1139–1156. https://doi.org/10.1002/spe.2432

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IFRS17 – helping you reach the finish line

Thu, 17 Feb 2022 12:50:00 GMT

With the 1st January 2023 effective date for IFRS17 fast approaching, we understand how hectic IFRS17 teams will be as they work towards finalising their implementation programmes.

Whilst companies have projects well under way, we are finding that they are facing challenges as they reach the final stage of their IFRS17 implementations and perform final calibration of models and address the specific details relating to their products, data, accounting systems and reporting processes.

These challenges are not unexpected and arise as a result of:

As firms complete the technical implementation of IFRS17, the focus of effort will transition to embedding of the process and optimisation and streamlining of the reporting process. In addition, there are considerations around product development, business planning and other wider considerations as to how to embed IFRS17 within the organisations.

For some firms, this will commence prior to 1st Jan 2023, while for others this will only become a priority after the effective date for IFRS17. Therefore, planning ahead for post implementation is also important, as resources are likely to be in demand in this phase.

At Zenith, we have a team of actuaries with deep technical and practical knowledge of IFRS17. We have been supporting clients through various stages of their implementation projects, including analysis of the requirements, development of models, analysis of results and communication of key messages to stakeholders.

As firms prepare their transitional balance sheets, there are many issues that are likely to need addressing. We can help firms reach the timescales by providing our experienced input into aspects such as:

Please contact us for more information on how we can support you.

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Meet the Team: Gemma Stonehouse, Senior Actuary

Thu, 06 Jan 2022 10:15:00 GMT

What’s the reaction generally from people when you tell them you are an Actuary?

They’re often still confused! I usually describe an Actuary as similar to an accountant, which isn’t quite true but our role is so broad that it’s hard to describe in one snappy sentence. I think a lot of people do actually know someone that is an actuary, so they have a pretty good idea. Actually, I remember the Institute of Actuaries used to give you a little card, like a credit card, that described what an actuary does! It was a brilliant idea if you got fed up explaining what you did for a living, you didn’t even need to describe the role, you could just show them the card!

How did you end up doing what you do? Has someone in your family trodden the path before or was it completely new?

It was completely new in my family. But I wanted to be an actuary from an early age, which might sound strange. My friends at school really liked the careers room and we’d often spend lunch there – so at age 12 I was flicking through the careers book, starting with the letter A. I soon got to Actuary and it was described as the second highest paid profession (on average) and involved maths, my favourite subject, so that was me sorted. My friends were also interested in looking for new jobs, but I think I was the only one that decided what I wanted to do so early. It helped knowing what I wanted to do from such a young age as it gave me focus and allowed me to choose subjects that would be helpful in my future career.

Eventually I ended up doing an Actuarial Science degree at City University (as it was known back then) in London. It’s now Bayes Business School and was one of the only places you could be exempt from the first series of professional exams at the time, which was worth doing.

So, did you surprise your family and friends by going in this direction of career choice?

I think my friends were probably a bit surprised, I mean, the fact that I’d found something so fast and just decided to do it, when 5 years later they still weren’t sure what to do!

It sounds like you’re very driven and self-sufficient in terms of your career, but were there any external influences from home or professionally?

I think what probably helped me out the most was, when I was around 5 or 6, my mum gave me maths lessons at home. She said that school had told her I was a slow learner, and at the time she would have liked to have been a maths teacher, so she ended up teaching me. I can’t really remember it to be honest, but it must have given me a real boost!

Your mum sounds amazing, do you think maths is in the genes then?

Maybe, although my sister runs a mile from anything mathematical – but then she didn’t get the extra help that I had.

Now I know that you went on maternity leave during lockdown, can you tell me what that was like? Did you ever go to work in the office?

I’ve only ever been into the office occasionally because it was always meant to be a remote job, which has been great for a work-life balance. That’s another thing you get from Zenith, working from home, which is one of the reasons I chose to work for them. But yes, lockdown was really strange because the point when I could announce my pregnancy was the end of March 2020 when we had just entered lockdown – no one from the outside world really saw my baby bump! You think, do people know I’ve had a baby?! It’s been very strange for my daughter as well, she’s very clingy now, since she’s hardly seen anyone else.

How did you feel about returning from maternity leave?

I haven’t met a parent yet who has looked forward to it returning to work and I’m no exception! There are lots of new faces at Zenith due to growth and I felt nervous about how things might have changed in my absence. A quick chat with our CEO Scott before my return made me comfortable and ready to go back, which started with a few days away with the team – a fantastic way to get to know everyone and have some fun before a full return to work!

Zenith’s growth has meant some structural changes and we now have a leadership team, which I’m pleased to be part of. My role is leading the consulting side of the business which is my passion, as “each day is different and every day is new” (from a song my son sings at nursery!).

What type of consulting projects do you and the team get involved in?

Consulting services to both our outsourcing clients and the market in general is a growing part of our business. It is focused on adding value and supporting our clients to grow via, in particular, product development, capital management and balance sheet optimisation, fund restructures, M&A and wider strategic support. Building on a number of client engagements we are also increasingly supporting clients with IFRS 17 implementation and general financial reporting data, reporting, systems and process improvements. With our enlarged team of senior and experienced actuaries, senior financial analysts and graduates we can flexibly structure project teams with a wide range of experiences and expertise.

I am really excited to be leading this team and further growing this service offering.

What were you doing before you joined Zenith and how did you end up working for them?

I joined Zenith in April 2019 and before that I was contracting at Royal London, where I met Scott, who was contracting as well. To be honest, we met by chance there and when he started up Zenith, he hounded me to join too. The rest is history!

You said a big advantage of Zenith is working from home, but how does it compare to other companies, what’s the culture like there?

At Zenith, everybody knows everybody, we’re a team made up of nearly 30 people, and all the people I work with have become so familiar and are so nice. The environment is very collaborative rather than competitive, which makes a really great atmosphere to work in.

Everybody wants to drive the company forward and help each other; I’d happily pick up the phone to any one of my colleagues. Most of the team work remotely, so we have a morning call each day to share what’s going on and see some real faces, and to celebrate achievements small and large. It can be a bit corny but it’s a nice touch.

I love working at Zenith as it has a vibrant and energetic feel. Everyone is different but fabulous and we have great respect for each other. I really value working somewhere where you’re appreciated as an individual and there is that personal touch so they can be more flexible to meet your needs and you can meet theirs – whether that’s where you work, which hours/days of the week are worked or something else. Zenith also seek and welcome ideas from everyone in the business, whatever level they are at – anyone can have a great idea and the best ideas may seem daft at first. I know that Zenith will do what it can to support me through any non-work issues too, it’s a very caring organisation to work for.

So, I know you’ve got two kids, but before children, what did you do outside of work?

I used to cycle a lot. A few years ago I went on a cycling holiday to Majorca and cycled one of the Tour de Yorkshire routes which was over 100 miles of extreme climbs! Running has been a big part of my life too, I used to run 30-60 miles a week and I’ve done the Chester Marathon in a very respectable time. Since having kids I don’t get time for cycling, but working from home is a huge plus because I can go for a run at lunchtime. When the kids are a bit older, I’ll hopefully get back into the cycling as well.

Ok, final question, if you could invite any 3 people for dinner, who would you invite?

To be honest, I’m not really into celebrities and my world is quite small. But with lockdown and everything, I think I’d choose three of my closest friends, since I haven’t seen many of them in so long. If I could choose who to cook the meal though, it would have to be Michel Roux Junior. He’s a big runner so we could swap marathon stories and he could cook me anything and I’d be happy!

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Meet the Team: Martin Sher, Chief Operating Officer

Wed, 22 Dec 2021 11:12:00 GMT

Martin joined Scott Robinson at Zenith 4 years ago to bring his actuarial technological insights and skills to the company. He is passionate about changing the way actuaries access and consume analytics so the information adds value to clients businesses.

As COO, Martin has responsibility for Zenith’s proprietary analytics Portal, used for automated client financial reporting. This combines pre-built and maintained models with integrated data warehousing, workflow, audit and reporting functionality.

But what about the man behind the numbers, Martin grew up in South Africa and studied Maths and Computer Science . A twist in his career path lead him into the actuarial world.

Did you have any idea on what you wanted to do or what you wanted to be when you were growing up?

At school, I really wasn’t sure. I went on to study a general maths and computer science degree at The University of Cape Town, but it was only later that I converted to Actuarial Science.

After my undergrad I did a work placement at Liberty Life in Johannesburg. Through my work there they sponsored me to do a postgrad actuarial science conversion course, being the first person in South Africa to do this degree. That was how I ended up in this career – I thought it sounded like a good challenge. It’s funny to think that if I hadn’t been given this opportunity, I probably wouldn’t be an Actuary today, living in London and involved with Zenith!

What do you admire most in a leader?

One who is structured and detail oriented but also able to think ahead … or someone with a clear desk despite the amount of work they have going on. That always impresses me.

So how tidy is your desk?

Not that tidy! Don’t worry I don’t have piles and piles of paper covering it, but I could definitely do better I’m sure.

If you were going to have a fantasy dinner party, which three people would you invite?

Right now, one of the guests would have to be Elon Musk. I don’t know what he’s like as a person to talk to, but I’d love to have a glimpse into the life of one of the world’s smartest people, who is so intricately involved in the science but also the business aspects of two extremely high-tech companies. I don’t quite understand how he manages to fit everything into his day!

I’d also be really interested to hear from Boris Johnson and discuss the unprecedented health, economic, social and political trade-offs and decision-making faced by governments around the world.

I would also love to have dinner with Jurgen Klopp – I think everyone would!

With Klopp, is it his attention to detail that interests you?

It’s interesting because you don’t really see that with him. You mainly see his character out on the pitch. The way he galvanised the team and brought them up to where they are now is really inspiring. There’s a massive amount behind the scenes that we don’t see and I would love to have more of an insight, especially as a Liverpool supporter.

If you hadn’t had that moment where you found out about the actuarial opportunity, what role would you be in now?

It would be something IT related for sure. This is why I would encourage everyone to keep an open mind and if choosing to study at higher education, to study a broad degree. You never know where life might take you! At Zenith, I’m able to combine my actuarial expertise and my IT skills; I marry the two together and I’m really pleased that able to do this.

What do you see in the future for you and the Zenith team?

In terms of our technology, we have started to develop our Portal 2.0 which brings “backroom” actuarial financial reporting activities into the heart of corporate decision making. We do this via increased scalability and business applications, such as capital impact analysis, new business profitability and product development. As Azure hosted, subscription-based users can focus on configuring the models (rather than coding and maintaining them) and rapidly produce meaningful results and insights which can be integrated within wider corporate MI and reporting.

The future of Zenith is really exciting. Our team has grown to over 20 people and we are actively expanding at all levels to service both our project based clients and retained services. We are always looking for new staff who want to help build our business and join our team. I’m really looking forward to seeing where the next few years take us.

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Meet the Team: Caroline Evans, Office Manager

Wed, 22 Dec 2021 10:05:00 GMT

Caroline Evans is the Zenith Office Manager and all round Queen of Organisation. We would be lost without her!

Can you tell us a little bit about your working life before joining Zenith?

I worked at Friends Provident (which later changed to Friends Life then Aviva) for 26 years, joining at 18. I started out as an Office Junior and worked my way up to Personal Assistant. For the last 8 years of my job there I was working from home – so home working has always been something I was very used to pre-Covid!

I joined Zenith in the February of 2020. The job really stood out as it enabled me to work within growing business offering a bit of everything for my career – and it was a local office!

After spending over 8 years working from home, would you say you’ve mastered the art of home working?

Haha – maybe! It’s funny because after my 8 years of home working, I only had 8 weeks in the Zenith office before Covid hit and we were all working from home. I don’t mind working from home and do try to go on a walk most lunchtimes – I don’t always succeed though! A really important thing I have learnt though is to try separate ‘work’ from ‘home’, this can be tricky but definitely worth doing. Microsoft Teams meetings have made life so much easier and enable you to put faces to names much more easily.

What do you prefer? Working from home or in an office?

Working from home certainly has its place but I really miss the interaction you get from an office – a lot of the Zenith team I have only met virtually! For our graduate employees in particular, I think it’s so important that we do return to office working or some sort of hybrid with home working so they can get a real feel for what working in an office environment is like.

Outside the world of Zenith, what are your hobbies?

Outside of work I’m a big football fan. I’m from Bury so naturally I supported my local football team. It has been at the heart of the community for more than a century and has been a big part of my life. I am one of three girls ( I think my dad wanted me to be a boy) and I was the one who went with him to watch Bury F.C. play each week. After having a break, I started watching with him again in my thirties. We would go to games at home and away and I would have tea with my Mum and Dad on a Saturday evening which is great because I hate cooking! The real tragedy for Bury is that in 2019 the Club was expelled from the Football League after prolonged financial difficulties. The ground in Gigg Lane is still there in the heart of the town, but it’s up for sale. The groundsman still cuts the grass every week, even though he’s not being paid. The pitch looks beautiful, but I doubt we’ll ever see a game of football played there again. It’s not all gloom though, Manchester United has filled the void left by Bury. My Mum and Dad were supporters when they were growing up, in fact they met in the Stretford End. That’s where they did their ‘courting’ as they used to say. So the club has a special place in all our hearts.

Who would you say are your inspirations?

My inspirations are certainly my Mum and Dad, my Mum in particular always knows what to do – I don’t think I’ll ever stop asking her for advice! At school a teacher who inspired me was, Mrs Hannay, she taught typing. She was so positive and inspiring and encouraged me to study business administration at college. I kept in touch with her until she died.

If you could choose any people in the world to invite for dinner, who would you choose?

That’s a very tricky question! I think it would have to be the singer Bruno Mars and the comedian Peter Kay. I think he’s hilarious and would be sure to get everyone laughing. My third guest would be my younger self. Maybe me in my twenties, so I could give myself a good talking to. I would tell myself to be more confident and to believe in myself more. I would invite them all to my Mum and Dad’s house for Sunday Lunch, which I love and I think it’s hard to beat.

Looking to the future of Zenith, what are you most looking forward to?

As I mentioned earlier, I do miss office interaction and I’m really looking forward to heading back into the office properly – we are currently looking to change our office location to Manchester! I don’t think office life will ever be the same as it was before Covid. I think there will now always be a hybrid way of working with a combination of home and office. The Zenith team have done brilliantly throughout lockdown and built really strong working relationships over Teams. But what I am really looking forward to is the team away day which we are organising for October. Many of us have never met in person so it will be a great opportunity to all meet properly and get to know one another outside of work.

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