CAS Announces Winners of the 2025 Peak Re-Sponsored ARECA Case Competition

he CAS is proud to announce the winners of this year’s Peak Re-sponsored CAS ARECA Case Competition. Organized by the CAS Asia Region Casualty Actuaries (ARECA) regional affiliate members and generously sponsored by Peak Re, this annual event continues to foster the next generation of general insurance talent across Asia.

The subject of the challenge this year was catastrophe analysis, and 44 teams from 19 universities, spanning Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, and Vietnam, competed in the first round.

1st place winners: Hayden Siew Men Lek, Rhenu Chandran, Toh Yi Hui, UCSI, Malaysia.

2nd place winners: Pua Xin Yee, Tan Shu Ting, Lim Zhi Wei, University of Malaya, Malaysia

3rd place winners: Alyaa Khoirunnisa Fajri, Alya Aqilah binti Aidy, Nurul Amirah Sahrul Nizam, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Five outstanding teams were shortlisted to present their findings to a panel of industry leaders, including Henry Phillip (senior vice president, underwriting) and Chi Hang Wong (senior vice president, analytics) from Peak Re, and Janet Yang (ARECA president), Ron Kozlowski, and Geoff Werner from the CAS.

The top three teams took home cash prizes ranging from $1,000 to $2,500, along with certificates of achievement and free CAS exam registrations to support their professional journeys.

• 1st place winners: Hayden Siew Men Lek, Rhenu Chandran, Toh Yi Hui, UCSI Malaysia
• 2nd place winners: Pua Xin Yee, Tan Shu Ting, Lim Zhi Wei, University of Malaya, Malaysia
• 3rd place winners: Alyaa Khoirunnisa Fajri, Alya Aqilah binti Aidy, Nurul Amirah Sahrul Nizam, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Congratulations to our 2025 participants and winners for their exceptional research and dedication!

1st place winners

Winning the Peak Re sponsored CAS ARECA Case Competition was definitely a roller-coaster ride for us. As it was our first time participating in a hackathon, we hit plenty of obstacles and challenges, but it was rewarding to see the concepts of general insurance like CAT models, frequency and severity, reinsurance structures, and many more actually come into play.

One of our biggest takeaways was realizing that there’s rarely a perfect model right out of the gate. There are a dozen ways to solve a single problem, and the real skill is in the justification of your choice. It was exhausting at times, but seeing it all click made every night worth it! We’re so grateful to the organizers, judges, and mentors who supported us along the way. Securing first place is truly a huge milestone for us, and we’re definitely not stopping here!

2nd place winners

We are truly grateful to CAS and Peak Re for organizing this case competition and providing such a valuable learning opportunity.

Through this experience, we deepened our understanding of catastrophe insurance, reinsurance, and catastrophe modeling, while applying data analysis to real-world industry problems.

The judges’ feedback was incredibly insightful, and we strongly encourage other students to participate in future CAS competitions.

3rd place winners

During the competition, we learned and deepened our understanding of general insurance, particularly on how data analytics and catastrophe modelling are reshaping risk assessment in a changing climate.

Throughout this case study, the industry insight that we got regarding general insurance helped us to think more like actuaries to solve problems in real-world practices. Not only that, but this experience also challenged us to think critically and collaborate effectively.