Hi guys,

I am an actuarial student (Malaysian obviously) studying in the Uk and currently in a one-year internship in a UK pensions company.

I've learnt a lot about the UK's pension industry but I'm worried that there will be no pension work in Malaysia, hence my work experience and pension knowledge becomes useless in Malaysia.

I understand most actuarial works in Malaysia revolves around insurance as the "only" pension in Msia is the EPF, and they may not even hire actuaries.

Can anyone clarify whether my thoughts are true - very little (or 0) pension opportunity in Malaysia. If there is any, could give me some examples of companies that do it?

P/s: Before anyone suggests to just leave Malaysia and stay in the UK, this is not a practical solution. Getting a job in the UK is not as easy as u think, u need to go through a lot of tests and interviews. And to make it worst, we are foreigners to them making them less likely to hire us.

Actuary in Malaysia doesn't have a bright future, for a foreseeable future. The truth is economy in Malaysia is not exactly very bright at the moment. Perhaps things would change in a while but right now it is not within sight.

Pension is very rare in private sector. Looking for one is going to be tough.

I thought of SG, but before going there, do actuaries have the same faith in singapore? eg: just doing excel and only the Head of Department gets to do proper actuarial jobs.

In regards to china or taiwan, I know mandarin. But im not sure if actuary is a thing there. And im totally unsure about their visa requirements.

what is ur opinion about these?

i've friend studied acturial and now working in investment bank, you've job path of not only insurance/pension but also investment bank

Frankly, I think that your pension experience will be considered as some form of experience. While not exactly the same field, I believe that many aspect can be transferred over to life insurance field.

Though, it's all depends on your expectations. Are you looking for a job as a fresh grad, or are you looking for a job as someone who has 1 year work experience? If it's the latter, then the expectations towards you will naturally be higher, and you will need to catch up ASAP.

Also, for those who suggests other countries such as Singapore, China, Taiwan etc, based on my knowledge, those countries will be mainly looking for people with slightly more years of experience (say at least 2 years?). It's still possible to find jobs in those countries, but I think as a Malaysian, you'll be able to find job in Malaysia easier as compared to others. On your worry about actuarial job, I think in general the entire actuarial department will be involved in actuarial jobs. Junior employees will of course usually start with slightly less crucial tasks, but they are still considered actuarial tasks.

Another aspect that will greatly affect whether you are hired or not is how many professional papers are you exempted.

This post has been edited by Searingmage: Feb 19 2018, 12:18 AM

May I know why do you think that actuary in Malaysia doesn't have a bright future? I personally would like to disagree. Even in times where economic conditions isn't great, an actuary role in the company is still very crucial. Also, I'm not too sure on Malaysia's current economic conditions. While many claimed that the economic conditions isn't too great, I think the stock market has been quite bullish for the past 1 year. The insurance industry in Malaysia has also been growing quite well for the past few years.

My niece graduated from Sunway U with 1st class honour in Actuarial Science couple of years ago, got into a MNC Consulting firm as an Analyst with other offers pending too.
According to her, staff jumping ship quite often because outside demand with better pay is there.
Sitting for the external professional exams get yourself being a qualified Actuarian, get promotion through the ranks.
Career advancement for technical path is quite promising.
There are a lot of new young undergraduates coming out in Malaysia, quite a lot of new students enrolled into IPTS for the course.
Good luck to your further study.

Could I clarify what do you mean by "proper actuarial job"?

Malaysia is the country which produce/export the most actuary in the region, reason being malaysian thinks it is a good job.

IMO, i think auditor can earn more and have more opportunities.

Better opportunity in US -

Wow this thread was on going until mid feb when I thought it has sunken. Thank you all for your opinion - I am currently doing an actuarial (pension) internship in one of the Big Four in the UK.

Coming back to topic, my concern now is as I am going deeper and deeper into pensions, the only way I can see myself making use of my pension knowledge in malaysia is working in EPF departments; otherwise is 0.

Anyone here can give me an opinion: Will Insurance Actuaries completely disregard my pension experience if I'm working in insurances?

What I meant are valuations such as Pension Scheme valuations/setting actuarial assumptions. Or just anything that actually requires you to study that degree to do the job.

I did 3 months of internship in an insurance company (Malaysia), that was purely data preps/VBA coding. I understand as a fresh grad, I shouldn't expect myself to do an Appointed Actuary (AA)'s job.

Ever considered working for KWAP? They deal with pensions and are probably hiring actuaries with Pension experience

Thanks for your suggestion, I will look into that.

I have to admit i have very limited knowledge of the Malaysia industry.

There isn't much opportunities as a pension actuary but if you know where to look, it should help a lot. Basically, anything that has a pooled fund that older contributers can withdraw have use someone with pension experience. KWAP is not the only one, there is also Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera for retired servicemen.

Of course, as you say, you shouldn't expect to do AA's job when you're a fresh grad.
Whatever you do, will usually be gradual.
For instance, in pricing, you'll typically be expected to do system support etc, before proceeding with full pricing.
Similarly, for valuation, you may need to touch the so called "non-proper" actuarial jobs initially. But again, as you progress, you'll be in charge in calculating reserves, preparing reporting to regulators etc.

I would think that it doesn't really matter where you go, you will always start with the "non-proper" actuarial jobs.

Of course, some company may have more of those type of jobs, others may have less. But as these works are usually considered as you say non-proper, the more seniors will be less willing to do it, which means these jobs usually fall on fresh grad. These jobs usually will better prepare you for those proper actuarial jobs as well. So, there's still a lot to learn even for those type of jobs. In each job, it is really depend on you yourself, to learn what can be learnt. For instance, when you do system support, it doesn't mean that you won't be able to learn any actuarial knowledge. But if you close your mind and conclude that they are non-proper, then you may not learn much from it. (i.e. you'll be more like a machine working, rather than an actuary thinking)