FRC appoints new Director of Actuarial Standards
News types: Staff/Board Announcements
Published: 28 April 2011
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) today announces the appointment of Paul Kennedy as acting Director of the Board for Actuarial Standards (BAS). Paul will take up the position in June 2011 on the departure of Louise Pryor who has been Director of the BAS since 2008.
Paul Kennedy is a qualified actuary, accountant and barrister, and is currently Head of Actuarial Oversight at the FRC, a role he has held since 2006. Prior to joining the FRC, he held various actuarial and managerial positions in the private sector and is a former head of the legislation team at the Financial Services Authority, where he also oversaw the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
On announcing the appointment, FRC Chief Executive Stephen Haddrill said:
“We are very sorry to be losing Louise Pryor, who has made a lasting contribution to improving the quality of actuarial information over the last three years.
“Paul’s background as an actuary, together with his work in financial regulation and as Head of Actuarial Oversight at the FRC, will help to ensure a seamless transition at an important time for the BAS, as it promulgates the use of its standards and works with users to continue driving up the quality of actuarial information”.
Commenting on the appointment, BAS Chairman Jim Sutcliffe said:
“Paul Kennedy brings to the role a great depth of actuarial and regulatory expertise. He will be a valuable ambassador for the BAS as we engage with users of actuarial information to encourage the adoption of the standards we have introduced and assess their impact on the quality of actuarial information.
“The combination of skills and experience that Paul possesses makes him ideally suited to lead the next phase of the Board’s development.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Louise Pryor for the wonderful work she has done over the last three years, in particular the completion of the set of actuarial standards upon which our future work will be based”.
Notes to Editors
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The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is the UK’s independent regulator responsible for promoting high quality corporate governance and reporting to foster investment.
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The Board for Actuarial Standards has a primary objective of promoting competence and transparency of actuarial practice by establishing and improving actuarial technical standards and ensuring that they are coherent, consistent and comprehensive.
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Paul Kennedy is Head of Actuarial Oversight at the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), and reports to the Professional Oversight Board. In this role, he oversees the regulatory activities of the UK Actuarial Profession. This includes ethical matters, professional conduct and discipline, practising certificates and monitoring, as well as education, training and continuing professional development. Before joining the FRC in early 2006, Paul worked in various actuarial and managerial roles with Prudential in the UK and overseas, as a principal at Coopers & Lybrand, and finally as a barrister. He then joined the Financial Services Authority (FSA) where he headed the legislation team, including part-time secondments to the HM Treasury bill and implementation teams for the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. His last role at the FSA was to oversee the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. He is a former member of Council of the Institute of Actuaries, and was a member of the Morris Review team.