Program Features

The BBA Program in Insurance, Financial and Actuarial Analysis (IFAA), offered by the Department of Finance of the CUHK Business School, was started in September 2002. The program provides an in-depth education in insurance, finance, and actuarial science to students who wish to be actuaries, financial analysts, risk managers in insurance companies, banks, and other financial institutions. Since its inception, the program has attracted among the most outstanding and academically accomplished students in Hong Kong.

Elementary courses in the IFAA program focus on fundamental business, economics, mathematics and statistics, and provide students with the necessary grounding for advanced courses that follow. Subsequent insurance, and finance courses further broaden students’ knowledge in related areas by introducing insurance products, financial markets and derivative securities as well as basic principles in financial risk management. Specialized actuarial science courses cover the mathematics in pricing, valuation and hedging of a variety of products to prepare students for careers as actuaries in both the life insurance and the non-life insurance sectors. They also help them master material included in professional actuarial exams administered by international actuarial associations such as the Society of Actuaries in the US and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries in the UK.

In sum, students who complete the IFAA program will be in a strong position to begin exciting and rewarding careers in the insurance industry and related fields.

Learning Goals

By completion of the Program, our graduates will have:

• Effective business communication skills;
• Effective analytical and problem solving skills which support them to make business decisions;
• The ability to integrate business knowledge in a business environment;
• The ability to propose strategies in a global environment;
• The ability to be aware of the ethical issues in a business context;
• Specific knowledge in actuarial science and insurance, including life and non-life insurance product design, pricing, and risk management.

Accreditation

The Insurance, Financial and Actuarial Analysis (IFAA) program under the CUHK Business School is recognized by the Society of Actuaries in the US as the Center of Actuarial Excellence. This is the highest award bestowed upon an actuarial program, and so far only 31 world-renowned universities worldwide have received such recognition. Our program has excelled in a wide range of areas, including curriculum design, teachers’ professional qualification, connection with the insurance industry and graduates’ prospects. CUHK is among the first batch of Asian universities to receive this honor.

Our program has also been granted full accreditation by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries in the United Kingdom. The Institute of Actuaries in the UK was established in 1848, and is one of the oldest professional bodies in the world. Qualified students from our program can get exemptions of the first 8 core technical subjects offered by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.