A timeline of the battle of the Society of Actuaries against the Casualty Actuarial Society and the American Academy of Actuaries, from October 2011 to 27 January 2015.

1. SOA vs. CAS and AAA
Timeline of actions since 2011

2. October 2011: It Begins
Announcement by Brad Smith at SOA annual
meeting in his Presidential Speech:
“There is absolutely no need for three separate
professional organizations, the SOA, the CAS and the
AAA, to exist. They need to consolidate into one
efficient, effective organization.”

3. Surprise!
In Smith’s 2010 Presidential Elect Material,
need for merger not mentioned:
https://www.soa.org/Leadership/Elections/Board-Candidates/2010/Bradley-M--Smith,-FSA,-MAAA.
aspx
https://www.soa.org/BoardCandidates/BoardCandidateLandingPage.aspx?
page=Issues&id=4294968270

4. Surprise to Board, too
From Smith's 2011 SOA Presidential Speech:
“Although the SOA Board has not expressed any
view on the matter, I have had significant conversations
with a number of our Board Members including all of the
Presidential officers, who are fully supportive of this
direction.”

5. Nov 2011: CAS Response
From CAS Board :
“The CAS is the only non-nation specific actuarial organization
exclusively focused on property-casualty risks, and our members find this
of value. Our members have made it clear, and the CAS Board agrees,
that they do not see benefits in consolidation with other actuarial
organizations. The CAS has been, and continues to be, strongly in favor of
cooperative efforts with other organizations, including efforts to address the
concerns raised in the SOA President’s speech.”

6. Key Aspects of Response
● CAS Board asked for member response
○ Blog comments, online poll, in-depth survey of CAS
Member Advisory Panel
● CAS noted areas of cooperation
○ Joint preliminary exams
○ Promoting profession (example: Be an Actuary site)
○ Joint Risk Management Section
○ Work on future joint action, such as disciplinary

7. March 2012: SOA GI Track
Decision by SOA Board at March 2012 meeting
‘The Board approved the creation of an educational track in general (property-casualty)
insurance, ensuring that the SOA is providing options covering all actuarial disciplines to earning
the Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA) designation. "The Board approved the creation of
the new specialty track after determining that including general insurance education will help
fulfill the strategic vision for the SOA to remain a leading global provider of broad-based actuarial
education," Smith said. The first of the exams and e-learning modules is expected to be made
available to candidates beginning in fall 2013.’

8. October 2012: Prelims
SOA Board Decides to stop co-sponsorship of
preliminary exams
“In October, the Society of Actuaries Board of Directors approved a
proposal to end the Joint Preliminary Actuarial Examination Agreement
with the Casualty Actuarial Society as of Dec. 31, 2013. Since then, there
have been some questions about what this means and why the decision
was made.”

9. Reasons Given
In a letter from then-SOA-President Tonya
Manning, October 2012:
“ In brief, the decision will allow us more control over the evolution of our
exam system.
….
Being the sole administrator of the preliminary exams will allow us greater
flexibility and efficiencies to provide a curriculum and set of exams
throughout the pathway (preliminary exams through Fellowship) that meet
the needs of the global marketplace.”

10. Oct 2012: CAS Response
Letter from then-CAS-President Pat Teufel:
‘The SOA’s action negatively affects one of the most successful, and fundamental, joint activities of the
SOA and CAS, and signals a shift by the SOA away from cooperation and collaboration with the other
US-based actuarial organizations.
….
The CAS participated with the other US-based actuarial organizations in the U.S. Profession-wide Task
Force sponsored by the American Academy of Actuaries. That Task Force recommended that “the
organizations identify functions (with consideration of antitrust constraints, if any) that can be made more
efficient through collaboration or consolidation and proceed accordingly.” While the SOA participated in
this Task Force, the actions of its Board are inconsistent with the recommendations made by the Task
Force as well as the spirit underlying the creation of the Task Force.’

11. Mar ‘13: SOA Makes Offer
SOA Board Offers SOA membership to CAS
members:
· It agreed to waive certain examinations and other requirements toward membership in the SOA
for persons who have successfully passed or completed substantially equivalent examinations or
courses required by the Casualty Actuary Society (CAS) until at least Dec. 31, 2015. Information on
the specific waiver requirements will be posted soon on the SOA website in its Education, General
Information section.
· It also agreed to allow Associates and Fellows of the CAS to become Associates and Fellows of
the SOA, subject to certain conditions and policies, until at least Dec. 31, 2015. Information on the
specific conditions and policies to apply will be posted on the SOA website shortly.

12. Sep 27, ‘13: Letter to NAIC
SOA writes letter to Joint Qualified Actuary
Subgroup:
“As you know, the SOA recently began offering a fellowship program in general, or property-
casualty insurance – a discipline that was previously served in the U.S. only by the CAS, but
globally by other professional societies as well. Competition among these professional
organizations is something new and will require broader regulatory recognition to account for this
change in the educational marketplace. Therefore, we urge that any guidance provided by the
NAIC on the subject of appointed actuary should not be unduly restrictive with regard to
membership and should recognize all of the aforementioned organizations.”

13. Jan 2014: AAA Acts
Removal of SOA Special Board Members on
January 15, 2014:
“WHEREAS, in various actions, including in a letter dated September 27, 2013 to the National Association of
Insurance Commissioners and a letter dated January 10, 2014 sent to the Academy Board, SOA has asserted
that it has commercial and other interests that are adverse to the interests of the Academy; and
WHEREAS, while the Academy does not believe that it engages in commercial conduct in competition with the
SOA, the Academy must recognize the assertion of such commercial competition by the SOA; and
WHEREAS, in addition, the SOA letter sent to the Academy Board on January 10, 2014 asserts potential
antitrust theories that it may pursue against the Academy; and (cont)”

14. Jan 2014: AAA Acts (cont)
“WHEREAS, the presence of the two Special Directors who are representatives of the SOA precludes the Academy
Board from addressing matters that are essential to the governance, operation and purpose of the Academy; and
WHEREAS, in light of the foregoing, the Academy Board has concluded that the presence of the two Special Directors
who are representatives of the SOA is no longer helpful to the Academy;
THEREFORE, IT IS RESOLVED THAT, unless and until the conflicts described are resolved to the satisfaction of the
Academy Board, the Board shall not fill designated seats with SOA representatives; and
RESOLVED FURTHER, that the two Special Directors from the SOA are hereby removed as Directors.”

15. Feb 2014: Terry Explains
Letter from then-AAA-President Tom Terry:
“The actions taken by our Board are a reflection of our deep commitment to our mission and all that we do
in support of this mission to inspire public confidence in our profession. The Academy expects its Board
members to share this mission enthusiastically and unambiguously.
We remain committed to productive relationships with all U.S.-based actuarial associations, including
ASPPA-ACOPA, the CAS, the CCA and the SOA. We have a long history of working well with each of
these associations, and we have always been committed to responsibly working through the occasional
disagreement. The Academy’s first and most important goal, however, is to do what we believe is in the
best interest of the U.S. actuarial profession as a whole and the American public.”

16. Sep 2014: SOA Emails
Then-SOA-President Freedman sends email to
CAS members:
“From: Mark Freedman <mfreedman@soa.org>
Date: Wed, Sep 17, 2014 at 8:03 AM
Subject: An Invitation from the Society of Actuaries
….
The Society of Actuaries (SOA) is accepting applications from Property/Casualty (or
General Insurance) actuaries who hold the FCAS or ACAS designations to become
SOA members. I am reaching out to you because I believe becoming a Fellow or
Associate in the SOA will benefit you professionally.”

17. Controversial Line in Email
From the email, the following line caused
concern:
“By becoming a member of the SOA, you will
gain the career flexibility that SOA
membership provides — ease of movement
from one area of practice to another without
replacing credentials.”

18. Complaints to ABCD
26 Sep ‘14: Terry et. al. make ABCD complaint:
“This is false and misleading, One never has to change or replace credentials to change practice
areas.”
Claims violation of Precepts 1, 4, and 11 of Code of Professional Conduct
1 Oct ‘14: Fisher makes ABCD complaint:
Claims violation of Precept 1 of Code of Professional Conduct (Annotation 1-4 specifically) with
points:
“1) Mr. Freedman knew that use of the CAS directory to solicit CAS members to join the SOA
was unethical and unprofessional. ….2) Mr. Freedman and the SOA acted with deception. ….3) Mr.
Freedman's acts reflect adversely on the actuarial profession. …. 4) Misrepresentation.”
[These ABCD complaints were not public until Dec 2014 Mark Freedman lawsuit filed]

19. Oct ‘14: AAA Responds
Email sent to AAA members on Oct 3, 2014:
‘In what we understand to be an unsolicited e-mail sent to thousands of property and casualty actuaries credentialed by the CAS, the
SOA stated that “By becoming a member of the SOA, you will gain the career flexibility that SOA membership provides—ease of
movement from one area of practice to another without replacing credentials.”
As it applies to the U.S. Qualification Standards (USQS), we do not believe this statement to be correct. The requirements set forth in
the USQS are fairly explicit about changing practice areas.
….
If, however, the actuary wishes to change practice areas, and does not want to spend years re-earning his or her basic education in
another area of practice, the actuary may change practice areas IF he or she follows the USQS requirements, which are largely based
upon the experience he or she acquires under the review of an actuary qualified in the new practice area.’

20. Nov 2014: CAS Accusation
From Letter from then-CAS President Wayne
Fisher:
“The last few weeks have been both uplifting and unsettling. As most everyone is aware, the
SOA sent a blast marketing email to our members containing inaccurate and misleading
information pertaining to the career flexibility afforded by the SOA credential. They did this by
accessing our membership directory 8,248 times (yes, that’s right) in order to circumvent the
database infrastructure designed to prevent mass downloads of our members’ personal data.
This act was certainly unsettling; a peer actuarial organization acting in a way that I believe is
clearly unethical and unprofessional. And it was also unsettling in that I believe the vast majority
of SOA members would not expect their leaders to be acting this way, but these leaders did so
anyway.”

21. Dec 2014: Lawsuit Filed
Mark Freedman filed lawsuit re: ABCD
Complaints and Process
Initial complaint can be seen here:
http://www.bakosenterprises.com/FLS.pdf
Academy litigation updates:
http://www.actuary.org/content/member-litigation-updates
CAS notice:
http://casact.org/press/index.cfm?fa=viewArticle&articleID=2762
SOA notice:
https://soa.org/leadership/board-announcements/2015-01-07-member-com.aspx

22. SOA/CAS Double Members
Based on Actuarialdirectory.org search results, 27 Jan 2015
FSA/FCAS 96
ASA/FCAS 67
FSA/ACAS 28
ASA/ACAS 54

23. SOA GI exam takers
Number Sitting
EXAM Fall 2013
Spring
2014
Fall 2014
GIIRR 11 10 9
GIFREU 1 2
GIADV 4 3

24. What Did I Miss?
Slides compiled by Mary Pat Campbell
January 27, 2015
Please email me if there is a problem: marypat.
campbell@gmail.com
Also see:
http://www.actuarialoutpost.
com/actuarial_discussion_forum/showthread.php?t=290157