MONTREAL, May 30, 2018 /CNW/ - As part of the 100 Million Ideas campaign, The Co-operators today made a $500,000 financial contribution which will allow for the creation of The Co-operators Chair in Actuarial Risk Analysis (CARA) at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). Thanks to this collaboration, the CARA Chair, which will continue to operate until at least 2023, could become an internationally renowned actuarial science research hub specializing in the conceptualization, quantification and estimation of insurance risk.

Actuarial science develops and uses mathematical tools to assess the financial impacts of short and long term risks, such as illness, accidents and natural disasters. The last recession (2008-2012) and the recent surge of floods, forest fires, hurricanes and earthquakes have caused major financial losses to many stakeholders. These events have reinforced the need to develop quantitative analysis tools in order to establish better risk sharing, primarily for governments, insurers and financial institutions.

With its Bachelor's degree in actuarial sciences, which includes a dozen professors and more than 400 students enrolled each year, UQAM offers one of the largest actuarial programs in the world in terms of enrollment. A concentration in actuarial and financial mathematics is offered, as well as a doctorate in mathematics, which includes several students supervised by actuarial science professors. "Our university is one of the leaders in this field," states Catherine Mounier, Vice-rector of Research and Creation at UQAM. "UQAM is brimming with ideas and innovation. After having welcomed Quantact, the Mathematical Research Centre's Quebec Interuniversity laboratory of actuarial and financial mathematics, with this Chair, the university adds a new flagship which will have a structuring effect for fundamental and applied research at the faculty of sciences."

In terms of competitiveness in the financial services industry, the ability to finely conceptualize insurance risks is very important. The globalization of the actuarial market pushes employers to seek yet more specialized personnel, on the cutting edge of actuarial science innovation. Carl Lambert, Vice President, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at The Co-operators, predicts that "the sophisticated segmentation models developed by the Chair team will allow for providing statistically fairer and more accurate pricing plans. In addition, a more precise identification of the causes of the most likely disaster will pave the way for more effective prevention. We are entering a new era where data will further guide business decisions. Big data originating from telemetry, biometrics and the Internet will create new data analysis and risk segmentation opportunities."

In addition to carrying out applied research, the Chair will train qualified graduates, apt to integrate into top positions in financial institution and insurance company research departments. The holder of The Co-operators Chair in Actuarial Risk Analysis and Professor at UQAM's  Mathematics Department, Jean-Philippe Boucher explains that "academic research is compatible with the industry's practical challenges. The insurance world's large databases contain enormous amounts of information that can be used by advanced forecasting models to better segment risk accorded to insured parties or better understand claim incentives. The optimal use of these sources is one of actuarial science's major challenges for the next few years."

SOURCE The Co-operators