UK – The Financial Reporting Council is to set up a new Board for Actuarial Standards – funded, in part, by pension funds.

The FRC said the £2m a year cost of the new regime will come from contributions from actuaries, insurance companies and pension funds.

The FRC is to extend the remit of its Professional Oversight Board for Accountancy to cover actuaries. The moves follow the Morris Review of the profession that was published earlier this year. A spokesman for the actuarial profession welcomed the development.

The FRC will publish a consultation paper setting out its proposals for funding the new regime in October.

The FRC is currently recruiting a chairman for the new London-based board. The part-time role will involve working with the profession, the insurance industry and pension funds, the Financial Services Authority as well as the regulator and government.

The ad says: “Candidates will have to demonstrate that they are capable of forming judgments on complex actuarial issues. This is a new, high profile role and the chair will need to command the respect of commercial, professional and other groups with an interest in actuarial reporting.”

There are also vacancies for a full-time technical director at the board as well as head of actuarial oversight at the Professional Oversight Board for Accountancy.

“We have welcomed the positive response of the actuarial profession to our work to establish the new arrangements and look forward to working with them to implement the recommendations of the Morris Review,” said FRC chief executive Paul Boyle.

“We intend that our approach to our new responsibilities will mirror our market-led and consultative approach to our existing responsibilities.”

The new regime comes into force next April.

The profession anticipates a reduction in the numbers of actuaries employed in the pensions and life assurance areas due to the decline of with-profits and final salary pension schemes, according to a new strategy report.