Ronnie Bowie 'optimistic' of actuary merger

THE BATTLE over the proposed merger of two actuarial bodies has taken a new twist, as the president of the Faculty of Actuaries announced he was "cautiously optimistic" that a merger with the organisation's English counterpart will go ahead.

This comes despite Scottish professionals voting against the proposal last summer and continued opposition to the move from many in the industry.

Ronnie Bowie said significant changes have been made to proposals that were originally rejected. Those alterations should pave the way to a merger of the faculty with the Institute of Actuaries, he said.

"We have gone back and spoken to the 27 per cent who voted no and asked their views and have made some changes," said Bowie.

"The feedback we are getting is almost universally positive. It makes us feel reasonably confident, given that we were only a few votes short the last time."

Voting on the plan, which is opposed by Edinburgh-based group Fidelis, will conclude on 25 May. If two-thirds of faculty votes and three-quarters of institute votes are in favour, the merged Institute and Faculty of Actuaries is expected to be up and running by September.

One of the main changes from the last time is the name of the combined group, which was previously to be called the Chartered Actuarial Profession. The new name pays homage to both organisations, and has made "a bigger difference than you might imagine", according to Bowie.

Fidelis, a small group of senior faculty members, is opposing the merger because it would lead to what it terms the "needless" destruction of the 154-year-old faculty.

The group is instead pushing for an alternative "unification" plan, in which a slimmed-down faculty would operate within the institute.

Bowie said that if the merger vote fails, the Fidelis plan would be one of the alternatives up for consideration by the next faculty council. However, he said that in a survey of members two years ago, only 3 per cent ranked this as the best out of a number of options.

"Of course if the vote fails we would have to go back to scratch and consider everything," he said, "but unless the membership has an extraordinary change of heart, (unification] will still likely come at the bottom of the heap."

In the first vote last July, a sufficient 73.5 per cent of faculty voters were in favour of merger. However, only 71.6 per cent of institute voters said yes, falling 175 short of the necessary minimum.