Actuarial Assurance Specialist: Group Finance

Who are we?

Sanlam was established as a life insurance company in South Africa but has since transformed into a diversified financial services group that operates across the African continent, India, Malaysia and selected developed markets, with listings on the Johannesburg, A2X and Namibian stock exchanges. In 2018 the Group celebrated its centenary as well as 20 years since demutualisation and listing in South Africa and Namibia. Sanlam is one of the largest internationally active insurance groups in the world with a presence in 31 countries and has the biggest non-banking financial services footprint on the African continent.

The Group's five business clusters (Sanlam Fintech, Sanlam Life and Savings, Sanlam Investment Group, Sanlam Allianz and Santam) house the Group's business operations. The Group Office provides strategic direction and support to the five clusters, assisting them in realising their strategies and meeting their business objectives. The Group Office is responsible for governance and for the Group's centralised functions, which include: Finance, Actuarial and Risk Management, Strategy, Human Resources, Market Development and Sustainability.

What will you do?

As an Actuarial Assurance Specialist, the role will support the provision of independent assurance to the Board, Audit Committees and Management. The role is Cape Town based at Sanlam’s head office in Belville and will include assurance assignments over actuarial functions across the Sanlam Group (including travelling to execute assignments on-site within various Sanlam businesses in Johannesburg, rest of Africa, Malaysia etc).

Duties and responsibilities include the following:

• Support overall planning and execution of actuarial assurance assignments group-wide.
• Work with Group Actuarial & Risk Management to understand and execute on combined assurance.
• Plan and execute specific audit assignments such as validation of actuarial and financial models, processes and controls around the management of market, credit and insurance risks, and actuarial and financial reporting under various internal and statutory bases, including SAM, Solvency II and EV.
• Conduct assurance activities relating to governance – specifically the adequacy of risk management and actuarial control functions across the Group, as well as ORSA processes established under SAM and Solvency II and Head of Control Function reviews.
• Support in providing specialist assurance over the Group’s IFRS17 models, relating to the control environments around actuarial data and modelling, actuarial processes, valuations and reporting functions.

What will make you successful in this role?

• A learning mindset, being inquisitive and a keen interest in new environments and actuarial concepts.
• A consulting and business partner mindset.
• Exceptional understanding of actuarial concepts including actuarial reserving processes and models.
• Ability to manage stakeholder relationships with internal and external partners and service providers (this will include senior actuarial management across the Sanlam Group and the Heads of Audit and audit managers for the respective Clusters).
• A high level of attention to detail with excellent organizational skills.
• Good report writing skills.
• Passionate and enthusiastic about excellence.
• A self-starter who identifies opportunities and potential problems, whilst being able to recommend future fit solutions.

Qualification and Experience

• Nearly-qualified or recently qualified Actuary, with 6+ years actuarial experience in life insurance and/or general insurance.
• Knowledge of SAM and/or Solvency II (Pillar 1 and Pillar 2/ORSA) and EV methodologies.
• Working knowledge of IFRS17.
• Working knowledge of balance sheet management, capital management, and investment risks.
• Awareness of regulatory and governance developments.
• Experience in an assurance function is advantageous.
• Experience with Prophet and/or Mo.Net is advantageous.

Knowledge and Skills

• Actuarial Problem Solving
• Actuarial Negotiation
• Business knowledge
• Business analysis

Personal Attributes

• Business insight - Contributing through others
• Self-development - Contributing through others
• Tech savvy - Contributing through others
• Interpersonal savvy - Contributing through others

Build a successful career with us

We’re all about building strong, lasting relationships with our employees. We know that you have hopes for your future – your career, your personal development and of achieving great things. We pride ourselves in helping our employees to realise their worth. Through its five business clusters – Sanlam Fintech, Sanlam Life and Savings, Sanlam Investment Group, Sanlam Allianz, Santam, as well as MiWay and the Group Office – the group provides many opportunities for growth and development.

The closing date for applications is 14 March 2025.

Core Competencies

• Cultivates innovation - Contributing through others
• Customer focus - Contributing through others
• Drives results - Contributing through others
• Collaborates - Contributing through others
• Being resilient - Contributing through others

Turnaround time

The shortlisting process will only start once the application due date has been reached. The time taken to complete this process will depend on how far you progress and the availability of managers.

Our commitment to transformation

The Sanlam Group is committed to achieving transformation and embraces diversity. This commitment is what drives us to achieve a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace as we believe that these are key components to ensuring a thriving and sustainable business in South Africa. The Group's Employment Equity plan and targets will be considered as part of the selection process.