Current Issues in Life Assurance (CILA)

Tom Bryant is a non-executive director for L&G’s Bermuda Based Reinsurers, L&G Re and L&G Re2. In his day job, Tom is Reporting Director for L&G Group’s institutional retirement division, He is responsible for the delivery of the financial reporting, internal controls across finance, business planning and cost management. Previously, he was Head of Audit for the LGR business and Group Finance function.

Prior to joining L&G in 2014, Tom was Head of Internal Audit for the Head Office Operations, for QBE Insurance Group in Sydney and the QBE captive reinsurer, Equator Re, in Bermuda. Until 2010 Tom worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in the UK and Australia in financial services external audit. Tom has over 20 years’ experience in financial reporting, internal and external audit of life insurance companies and pension schemes. 

Richard is a Senior Actuary at the Bank of England, where he was worked in a variety of roles (and prior to that, the Financial Services Authority), since 2006. He is a general insurance actuary and has worked with a wide range of firms in the UK general insurance sector across a number of fields, including reserving, capital modelling, and the prudential regulatory framework.

He joined the PSWG in 2019, through which he has worked on several of the group’s videos and written materials and has led sessions on professionalism at every IFoA GIRO Conference since 2019. Outside of actuarial work, he is passionate about theatre, comedy, and cabaret.

Partner in the 4most insurance practice, Hana is a transformation leader and people actuary with a passion for helping organisations deliver change in the right way.

Based in the UK and originally from Slovakia, she brings strong communication skills and emotional intelligence to her work, enabling clients to achieve what they need with clarity, confidence, and pace. Outside of work, she is a proud mum and a natural connector who thrives on building relationships.

Prakhar Goel is a Principal at Oliver Wyman actuarial in London, specialising in European insurance M&A. He advises on acquisitions, minority investments, and reinsurance across UK, German, Indian, and Swiss markets.

Before Oliver Wyman, he worked at HSBC Investment Bank and EY, focusing on transactions, valuation, and financial modelling for life insurers. Prakhar is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) and holds a mechanical engineering degree from Delhi College of Engineering. He combines actuarial expertise with strategic M&A insight to support clients in the life insurance ecosystem.

Stuart is Head of Longevity and Demographic Insights and a Partner at LCP. He helps clients understand and manage the impact of mortality trends, leveraging insights from LCP’s health analytics practice. He advises some of the UK’s largest pension schemes and well as leading insurers and reinsurers. He is the Chair of the Continuous Mortality Investigation (CMI) and founded and co-Chaired the influential COVID-19 Actuaries Response Group. He was awarded an MBE for services to public health in the 2022 New Year Honours.

Head of Insurance Accounting at 4most. Mike is an expert in insurance accounting and financial controls, with 13 years’ experience in insurance audit at PwC and EY prior to joining 4most.

He has worked across Lloyd’s syndicates, general insurance and investment management clients, before specialising in life insurance. He began his career in London before moving back to his native Yorkshire, where he brings a practical approach to supporting insurers through accounting, risk and control challenges.

Brian Ring co-leads Oliver Wyman’s UK life actuarial practice and co-leads the European M&A actuarial practice. With 20 years of actuarial experience, Brian specialises in M&A, reinsurance, PRT and actuarial transformation.

He has held senior roles across consulting, reinsurance broking, and has worked in several major financial services firms including Prudential and Goldman Sachs. Brian has led several large insurance acquisitions in recent years, as well as large-scale actuarial transformations and supported multiple new entrants into the UK PRT infrastructure. He is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.