Best actuarial modelling software: FIS, Prophet
Prophet has long been a market leader in actuarial modelling solutions, particularly in the life and health markets, boasting more than 10,000 users across nearly 1,000 sites in over 70 countries.
It offers environments for the development and production of actuarial modelling, and provides a complete solution with integrated business process management and risk analytics.
FIS has not rested on its laurels since taking on the software as part of its acquisition of SunGard in 2015.
As insurers look to model more accurately and meet new regulatory requirements, clients have appreciated the ability to perform nested stochastic calculations and reuse the same model for many purposes – reducing their total cost of ownership and cutting complexity.
Prophet supports both valuation and projection models, which makes it suitable for compliance with projected balance sheet and US principles-based reserving regulations. In the US, Prophet has been adopted by insurers as they consolidate onto a single platform and replace legacy valuation-only platforms.
Some of the most recent developments have focused on making Prophet compliant with IFRS 17, the insurance contracts accounting standard due to come into effect in 2021. Prophet is good for reporting metrics and also projecting balance sheets and income statements – key requirements under IFRS 17.
In 2017, FIS issued multiple IFRS 17 updates, including a group calculations library, and the company plans further updates to calculations, governance and connectivity as implementation continues across the globe.
Martin Sarjeant, global solutions leader for insurance at FIS, believes this work has helped Prophet to win the category for a second year in a row.
"We have put in place key product extensions and strategic collaborations with SAP and Deloitte, because we recognise that compliance for insurers is about more than the actuarial core alone.
"A significant number of insurers have selected Prophet for IFRS 17. We have also had a greater engagement with our existing client base," he says.
