The National House Building Council (NHBC) – a UK warranty and insurance provider for new homes – wins actuarial team of the year for the way it has achieved much with limited resourcing.

NHBC's actuarial team is composed of two individuals: Stan Adams, group financial and capital reporting manager, and Chris Jones, financial reporting manager.

The two-man team works across financial reporting, financial modelling, taxation and investments.

Adams says: "We are both finance professionals. We are actually accountants by profession, but we are involved in a lot of actuarial work."

One judge praised the team for bridging NHBC's accounting, reporting and risk transfer units, "and thereby helping to "dignify the actuarial function".

In addition to its day-to-day work, the team has taken on significant initiatives in the last 12 months.

NHBC provided financial analysis relating to the placement of sizable back-book of reinsurance, representing the largest single transaction in NHBC's history. This led to Adams who heads the team being awarded NHBC's employee of the year.

The company also designed a financial model that brought together metrics including UK GAAP profit and loss, UK GAAP balance sheet and Solvency II analysis of changes in own funds.

Additionally, NHBC embedded an expanded management information methodology for financial reporting.

The model is now used in the preparation of NHBC's group business plan, and key target projections to monitor NHBC's performance and solvency position, "which are ultimately bonus targets for the entire business".

"NHBC have achieved a lot with limited resourcing," said one of InsuranceERM's judging panel.

"Driving forward new strategic change initiatives internally with a small team requires huge amounts of perspiration and a fair amount of inspiration. Credit to their achievements," says another.

Looking forward, NHBC plans to expand the actuarial team by recruiting two more people.