Why the HAF Is Not the Head of the Actuarial Function?

In this paper we investigate the role of the Head of the Actuarial Function (HAF) and its implementation in the South African insurance market, two years after the passing of the new Insurance Act in 2017. We compare the current role in South Africa to actuarial roles in other jurisdictions and the prior statutory actuary role based on the Long-term Insurance Act. Based on an industry survey conducted by us, we highlight the differences in the interpretation and implementation of the role in different segments of the market. We discuss areas that have been problematic when embedding the HAF role in an organisation and investigate those from a professional, organisational and regulatory perspective. Based on this analysis we propose best practices for the implementation of the HAF role including a minimally compliant interpretation for smaller insurers and outline how the role can be interpreted, clarified or changed to achieve further improvements for the South African insurance market.