Simply put, by being an independent concern with no links to any of the funds we’re servicing, but at the same time being big enough to handle large clients, our independence is a de facto guarantee of our impartiality.” “There’s nothing wrong with that in law, and I wouldn’t imagine or suggest that any of them ignore the potential for conflicts of interest that might arise, but at the same time, it’s just good governance: you don’t let the people writing the exam mark the paper. “Many of the larger actuarial firms, by way of example, are linked in some way or another to the people administering retirement funds,” he says. Thulani Nxumalo, chairman of ARGEN, believes that the firm’s independent status – and its size – give it an ethical edge, in certain areas of operation. It’s easier for us to compete with them, now that we’re a bigger company.” We did (and do) have big clients – Group 5, Sasol, Altron, SALA for example – but it’s securing new big clients that is always difficult. “As two separate mid-size companies, you exist, but you’re never going to be serious competition for the big boys. “It enables us to become a credible competitor in the market,” he says. The new and larger business gives then more scope to build careers and it gives them greater security of employment as well.”Įls is also excited by the prospect of attracting more large clients, given ARGEN’s new complementary capacity. The third thing encouraging the merger was to reward the wonderful people we work with. Joining with Genesis also allows us to specialise and aids succession planning. In AE&A we had two actuaries, with a large client base – we needed more resources and more actuaries to grow our Retirement Fund support business. There were a couple of reasons for the merger, but primarily, it allows us to create a deeper pool of actuaries, more security and a wider service offering to clients, and a significant African platform. It’s hard for an actuary to accept it, but in this case, one and one adds to more than two!” says Francois Rosslee, who will act as Director of the new venture.Īrthur Els agrees “So we can now offer new services to former Arthur Els & Associates clients, and vice-versa, as far as Genesis goes. “The nice thing about the merger is that the two companies do different things in different actuarial fields, so there are no retrenchments, or closing of offices – it really is a pure merger that will generate synergy. This, combined with the fact that the firm is committed to playing an independent but supportive role to retirement funds and advisors, and the fact that they have significant African experience between them make them an appealing alternative to other large groupings of actuaries who are in the main “attached” to firms who provide fund investment advice as well. Through Argen, both companies will be able to offer a broader pool of actuaries and a wider range of services. Its flexible, independent team of actuaries provided pension fund services, but also became expert in individual calculations for Road Accident Fund claims amongst others, and in providing outsourced support for administrators and other actuarial firms as required. Francois Rosslee and Tommie Doubell established Genesis in 2000, originally to provide actuarial calculations for the United Kingdom Pensions Review. Started in 2004 by Arthur Els, one of only a few Certified Enterprise Risk Actuaries in South Africa, AE&A specialised in the valuation of retirement funds, preparation of accounting disclosure for companies' employee-benefit arrangements, asset-liability modelling, providing actuarial services to retirement funds and enterprise risk management. On 1 March 2014, independent South African actuarial firms Arthur Els & Associates (AE&A) and Genesis Actuarial Solutions merged to form ARGEN Actuarial Solutions – two specialist actuarial companies coming together to create one of the largest independent actuarial firms in Africa. The merger of two complementary mid-tier South African firms into ARGEN Actuarial Solutions has created a new large actuarial firm with some appealing features. Arthur Els, Managing Director of ARGEN and Thulani Nxumalo, Chairman of ARGEN.
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