To Inspire and Elevate Each Other――
Member Training Programs and Research Groups
The IAJ provides assistance and advice to government agencies, analyzing and proposing solutions for insurance public policy and the social security system. The Financial Services Agency (FSA) classifies the IAJ as a Designated Association that develops professionals in actuarial science area and performs actuarial services such as setting the basis for calculating the amount of the policy reserve.
Practical standards formulated by the IAJ have been certified by the FSA and other regulatory organizations as standards for reviewing policy reserves, dividends, and other items. The IAJ and the Japanese Society of Certified Pension Actuaries also established the Standards of Practice for Retirement Benefit Accounting.
Leveraging its unique position, the IAJ organizes various training sessions and research groups to provide opportunities for members to further their personal professional development and to provide a forum for members to inspire each other. The institute’s research workshops actively explore topics in the insurance, pension, and other fields and widely share their findings.
Annual Meetings
The Annual Meeting held every autumn is major conference
attended by officials from the Financial Services Agency and Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, representatives from corporate member groups, and guest invited from overseas.
The meeting includes the presentations on various topics and research findings, panel discussions with experts, announcements of daily research results, and discussion by members on current topics and themes.
IT Annual Meetings
The IT Annual Meeting is a forum for special IT-related study groups to present their research findings. The study groups are formed centered on young actuaries involved in information technology fields with the aim of creating collaborative support for high-level research across industries.
Regular Meetings
The Regular Meetings are held several times a year to provide opportunities for IAJ members to expand their actuarial knowledge and enhance their professional capabilities. The meetings feature lecture on various current topics, such as international accounting standards, trends in insurance industry supervision and regulations in other countries, and ERM by highly knowledgeable and experienced instructors from Japan and around the world.
Moonlight Seminars
Moonlight Seminars are meetings held over several months in which participants help each other build professional actuary skill and knowledge by discussing and reporting on the latest information and practices.
Actuary Courses
The IAJ’s educational programs to deepen the actuarial skills of its members include a Basic Course on probability theory and life insurance mathematics for research members, and a Special Course covers risk management theory and population theory for members who have completed the Basic Course. These courses are further supplemented by sessions for practical exercises applying the Basic Course content. IAJ Fellows and Associates may also attend the Advanced Course to deepen their expertise and skills with ERM and to learn about data science.
Professionalism Training
A professional actuary has a responsibility not only to apply their knowledge and specialized skills, but also to perform their work in good faith as a professional practitioner. The IAJ expects its members to comply with the IAJ Code of Professional Conduct when carrying out their capacity as professional and accredited actuaries. Professionalism Training provides training on the Code of Conduct and in other areas that member should be aware of as professional actuaries. One of the requirements to becoming a Fellow is to complete the Professional Training (Introductory Training), and Fellows are also offered an additional Professionalism Training ( Continuing Professional Development).
Continuing Professional Development
The IAJ offers a program for actuaries to continue building their qualifications and professional capabilities to enable them to maintain and deepen the trust of society as society requires actuaries to have increasingly specialized knowledge and skills. The program supports and encourages Fellows to continue developing their skills through a system requiring members to earn a set number of course units for continuing education each year.
Research Groups
The IAJ has several active research groups in various areas.
Academic Projects
The IAJ facilitates exchange between academia and professional practitioners through various activities. We regularly send members to lecture at Kyoto University, Osaka University, and Kobe University; engage in joint research with universities, research institutes, and academic organizations; and publish the peer-reviewed Risuku to Hoken (Risk and Insurance) trade journal. In addition, IAJ and The Japanese Association of Risk, Insurance and Pensions (JARIP, founded in 2003) present the JARIP Forum where researchers from top universities join to discuss specific research papers.
Actuary Journal
Our quarterly Actuary Journal newsletter is the official information medium of the IAJ providing news and updates on the association’s regular meetings, reports on research group findings, and research papers to provide the information IAJ members to continue building their professional expertise and capabilities.
CERA Training
We provide lectures and group workshops on ERM case studies and ERM in Japan to deepen member understanding of areas needed to fulfill the requirements for CERA credential.