2024 Board Member Candidate
Hans J. Wagner, FSA 1992
Advisor to Insure-Tech Startup
Volunteer
Maisons-Laffitte, France
Brief Description of Current Work
Current professional activities include Chairing the SOA Professional Development Committee, Chairing the ValAct Meeting Planning Committee, and acting as an Advisor to Insurtic, a insurance technology startup company. Most recently I was Mission Director at AXA’s Group Risk Management Team in Paris, following eight years in Shanghai as Chief Actuary and Chief Risk Officer for ICBC-AXA Life, the largest foreign joint-venture life insurer in China.
Primary Area(s) of Practice
Life, Risk Management
Bio
My actuarial career began at MetLife in New York, including rotations in Personal Insurance pricing, Corporate Actuarial (including oversite of Met’s Canadian operations), and Pensions valuation. From Met I moved to AMEX Life in San Rafael, California where I worked on all aspects of managing a deferred annuity product sold to cardmembers. My next job was as corporate actuary at Banner Life/Legal & General America in Maryland where I completed a number of strategic projects. After that I joined E&Y’s Actuarial Services Group in New York and then Boston working on a mix of audit support and consulting projects for companies and regulators and eventually leading the life actuarial practice in New England.
After over a decade of actuarial work in the US my next move was abroad, joining AXA’s Asia-Pacific unit in Melbourne, Australia as the US GAAP Regional Development Manager and then Chief Actuary-International with responsibility for operations across Asia. A major accomplishment was managing the reorganization and move of AXA’s Asia Region Life office from Melbourne to Hong Kong. I was then invited to move to AXA’s global headquarters in Paris (despite speaking no French at the time), where I was the Corporate Actuary in the controller’s department. My responsibilities included all actuarial aspects of external and management financial reporting including employee pensions and share-based compensation. I then transferred to Group Risk Management where I was the Life Chief Risk Officer overseeing life product and technical risks and developing parts of AXA’s Internal Model for Solvency II.
When AXA invited ICBC to join its existing life-insurance joint venture in China I volunteered to move to Shanghai in 2011 because of the opportunities presented by bringing together the world’s largest bank with a top-10 global insurer. During the first year at AXA-Minmetals I looked after all Finance, Legal, Actuarial, and Risk Management functions. Since the official launch of ICBC-AXA I was responsible for Actuarial and Risk Management until June 2019, after which I worked on strategic projects for AXA Group Risk Management in Paris until March 2021. Since then I have focused professional activities on volunteering and advising a startup, Insurtic.
Throughout my career I have done extensive work outside my companies, either as part of the corporate role or volunteering. I have volunteered service to the SOA in a variety of ways:
- on various examination and education committees including as Vice Chairman,
- writing articles and making presentations,
- on the Valuation Actuary Symposium Planning Committee,
- on the International Section Council including as Asia-Pacific Ambassador Coordinator,
- overseeing Fellowship research papers,
- running an exam center,
- on the Adapting Education for International Markets Task Force,
- on the China Committee and assisting coordination of the China Annual Symposium,
- on the PD Redesign and Engagement Strategy Task Force, and
- currently as Chair of the Professional Development Committee and the ValAct Meeting Planning Committee, having served previously as Chair of the 2023 Life Meeting Planning Committee and on the 2022 ImpACT Planning Committee.
Other roles have included chairing the European CFO Forum Embedded Value Working Group, being a founding director of the Life and Longevity Markets Association, and serving on the IASB Employee Benefits Working Group.
Education has been a career focus; I have developed and delivered many training programs as well as lectured at universities. I have authored various articles and been a frequent speaker at industry events. Before I started my actuarial career, I spent several years as a high school teacher along with roles as a coach and dorm parent.