SCU, Shin Kong Life Insurance Cooperate to Develop Actuarial Technologies and Talents

Shin Kong Life Insurance agreed to donate a total of NT$ 5.4 million in the next three years to Soochow University’s Center for Actuarial and Big Data Research for further developing technologies in actuarial industry and insurance innovations.

Soochow’s Department of Financial Engineering and Actuarial Mathematics will also get a sponsorship of NT$ 1 million from the insurance giant for setting a scholarship used to award exceptional students in the fields of insurance, statistics, and information technology, as well as to nurture outstanding actuaries with a global vision.

In the signing ceremony on March 27^th, 2019, at Soochow’s Downtown campus, SCU President Wei-Ta Pan recognized the achievements by many alumni of the Department of Financial Engineering and Actuarial Mathematics, who have been known for their excellent work performance and successful product development. Soochow feels grateful and honored, Pan added, to have the opportunity to cooperate with Shin Kong Life Insurance, a renowned leader in the business.

Shin Kong Life President Jason Tsai said that in the life insurance sector, there is increasing demand for those skilled in actuarial science, information management, risk management, and financial investment. Soochow University’s educational strategy keeps up with the trend, which is why Soochow graduates have earned an outstanding reputation among employers. He hopes that through this partnership, industry-university cooperation will be further strengthened, and talented individuals will join Shin Kong Life, thus creating a win-win situation.

With the advent of the era of big data, heightened standards for actuarial practice and insurance innovation are becoming increasingly important. In order to meet the needs in research and practice, Soochow created the “Center for Actuarial and Big Data Research” under the Department of Financial Engineering and Actuarial Mathematics to train the next generation of actuaries.

The Department has put strong emphasis on developing two major areas: “financial engineering” and “actuarial sciences,” with a particular focus on hazard modeling, asset/liability modeling, innovative insurance policies, and blockchain applications. In recent years, the Department has been actively hiring faculty members specializing in fintech, artificial intelligence (AI), and big data.

With big data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) progressing at a rapid pace, in the future, actuaries will no longer have to worry about doing repetitive and tedious work. Instead, they will be able to spend all their time and effort helping insurance companies develop new strategies and focus on risk management.