CAS and Peking University Sponsor 14th Annual Actuarial Month
he 14th Annual Peking University-CAS Actuarial Month was co-organized in November 2025 by the CAS and Peking University (PKU) in Beijing, China. The month-long event is aimed at promoting the P&C actuarial profession at the university and helping students understand more about P&C actuaries.
Each November, the CAS sends three or four fellows to PKU to teach students the application of non-life insurance actuarial science in practice. Since it was first held in 2012, PKU-CAS Actuarial Month has become an important platform for PKU students to understand actuarial practice trends and the career development paths of actuaries.
In November 2025, the school hosted three informative and cutting-edge lectures. The series of lectures was presided over by Associate Professor Kai Chen, the director of the China Actuarial Development Research Center of PKU, as well as the deputy director of risk management and insurance department of PKU.
On November 4, Xiaoxuan (Sherwin) Li, FCAS, CCRMP, the former chairperson of the CAS Asia Regional Committee and the general manager of Risk Research Institute of PICC P&C, kicked off this year’s lectures with the theme of “Non-life Insurance Pricing and Catastrophe Modeling.” He gave a comprehensive explanation about the development and evolution of P&C actuarial pricing technology, the logic of catastrophe modeling, and the application of machine learning algorithms.
On November 11, Hongjun Li, FCAS, the general manager of the Actuarial Department of Taiping Re (China), gave the lecture, “Theory and Practice of IFRS 17 New Insurance Accounting Standards.” This lecture comprehensively reviewed the core framework and key practical aspects of IFRS 17, providing a detailed analysis of the measurement models and their implementation impacts. It helped students grasp the latest developments in insurance accounting standards and the essential requirements for actuarial practices.
On November 25, the third lecture and closing ceremony featured Ran Guo, FCAS, the CAS China country director, who cited his working experience on Wall Street, shared his understanding of actuarial career development, and insightfully analyzed the key points of merger and acquisition (M&A) in the insurance industry, under the theme of “Merger and Acquisition in the Insurance Industry.” Using real cases, he explained the classification and definition of non-life insurance reserves in detail, emphasizing the calculation method of IBNR, and he highlighted how significant changes in reserves during M&A can affect the valuation of the transaction.
In the future, the CAS will continue collaborating with Asian universities to foster more P&C actuarial talent from this emerging market. For more information on PKU-CAS Actuarial Month and other CAS international initiatives, write to Ran Guo at rguo@casact.org.