The Actuary in South Africa (1973)

1.1. It is over 17 years since the paper ‘The Actuary in South Africa’ (1) was discussed. In South Africa as elsewhere great changes have taken place and it was felt appropriate to bring the position up to date. Nevertheless those interested are recommended to refer to the 1957 paper and not least to Mr R. G. Mallett's introduction to the discussion. Since the decision was taken to write this paper, Mr Spedding's paper ‘The Actuary in Australia’ (2) has been presented and to facilitate comparison, I have followed the general outline of that paper.

1.2. The South African currency is Rands and cents (100 cents equals one Rand). Since South Africa did not follow the United Kingdom devaluation of 1967 the parity was R. 12 equals £7 sterling but South Africa devalued at the end of 1971 and then R. 2 was almost the same as £1. At the time of writing the pound is roughly equivalent to 1·5 Rand.