Employ applicants with financial and actuarial mathematics - Prof Wunderlich

Insurance companies and other banking institutions have been urged to employ people with sound financial mathematics and actuarial knowledge.

In this vain, they would be able to apply proper mathematical modules to manage their assets.

Professor Ralf Wunderlich, a Visiting Researcher from the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-senftenberg, Germany who made the call stressed that financial and actuarial mathematics was key to the successful management of banks and insurance companies.

He argued that people with actuarial skills for instance, were trained in insurance problems and that they would be able to properly manage the premiums of clients and pay claims as required.

He said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sidelines of a four- day training workshop on Stochastic Analysis, Research and their applications to Financial and Actuarial Mathematics at Biriwa in the Central Region.

It was organised by the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) Ghana, under the auspices of the Alexander von Humboldt and the German Ministry of Education and Research and supported by DAAD Foundation and hosted by Olivier Menoukeu Pamen, the German Research Chair at AIMS Ghana, and a Reader in Mathematical Sciences at the University of Liverpool.

The workshop, which focused on initiating collaborative research among researchers at universities in Ghana, Africa and beyond, brought together mathematical researchers as well as graduate students with research interest and experience in mathematics and its applications from ten African countries.

It provided an excellent platform for graduate students, young and senior researchers to increase and share knowledge in the areas of Financial and Actuarial Mathematics in designing internationally competitive research proposals and the effective communication of research findings

Prof Wunderlich noted that the banking and insurance industry embattled with numerous financial and insurance problems such as failure to pay claims to clients because most of their employees lacked the needed skills to do actuarial calculations on the premium of their clients.

Giving a mini course presentation on Stochastic Optimal Control with applications to finance, Prof Wunderlich indicated how banks and insurance companies could optimally manage facts to increase their investment so as to pay a good pension to clients.

“If you look to insurance, say car insurance, property insurance, the fuel price, what is the fuel insurance premium that the customer should pay to insurance company. These prices are not found by negotiations on the market, you can somehow compute it to get a fair price and this is mathematics” he stated.

The Chairman of the Endowed Humboldt Research of AIMS Ghana, Professor Olivier Menookeu Pamen, explained that the workshop formed part of the vision of AIMS to connect mathematicians with industry.

He said the START Worksop was very relevant, especially for those in the banking and insurance industry as it provided them with new information about the model used to price products and financing management risks involved in their investment.

Prof. Pamen expressed satisfaction at the outcome of the workshop and hoped that going forward, more people from industry would be able to participate in it.

A Guest Speaker, Dr Ezekiel Nortey, a Senior lecturer at the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Ghana described the workshop as very useful for both academia and industry and called for constant engagement between the two.

The participants were taken through mini courses and presentations on Credit Risk Modelling and Risk Management, Stochastic Optimal Control with applications to finance and an Introduction to Risk Theory.