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Caesar Balona

Caesar Balona

Actuarial Analyst

Followers of Caesar Balona3000 followers
location of Caesar BalonaJohannesburg Metropolitan Area

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  • Timeline

  • About me

    Modern Actuary

  • Education

    • University of the Witwatersrand

      2012 - 2014
      Bachelor of Science (BSc) Actuarial Science

    • University of the Witwatersrand

      2015 - 2015
      Bachelor of Science (BSc) Actuarial Science Honours

  • Experience

    • Munich Reinsurance of Africa

      Jul 2015 - Dec 2015
      Actuarial Analyst

      During my studies I was contracted with extracting valuable information for clients from a large volume of biometric data. I created a tool that automatically queried, transformed, and summarised the data from a SQL databased and then generated reports with tables and graphical output. The tool significantly reduced the workload and allowed great scalability for future work using Excel and SQL.

    • Alexforbes

      Jan 2016 - Mar 2017
      Actuarial Analyst

      I worked in the Insurance Consulting team. I primarily dealt with regulatory compliance under SAM and various regulatory regimes throughout Africa, as well as Enterprise Risk Management (ERM). I also performed work in a number of other areas including analytics and valuations.

    • QED Actuaries & Consultants

      Apr 2017 - Jan 2023

      I manage the SAM regulatory requirements of a number of short-term insurers in South Africa (annual and quarterly returns, ORSAs, and other requirements) as well as assist with ad-hoc projects my clients may require, be it valuations, capital modelling, analytics, etc. In addition to my own clients, I also assist on other projects for short-term insurers within South Africa and the African continent covering Financial Condition Reporting, valuations, pricing, and other statistical tasks.Outside of client work, I am responsible for the research & development process within my team including governance, tools, and providing support wherever needed. Show less

      • Head of Data Science

        Nov 2021 - Jan 2023

      • Actuarial Manager

        Apr 2021 - Nov 2021

      • Assistant Actuarial Manager

        Apr 2019 - Mar 2021

      • Senior Actuarial Consultant

        Jan 2018 - Mar 2019

      • Actuarial Consultant

        Apr 2017 - Dec 2017

    • Old Mutual Insure

      Mar 2023 - now

      I lead the quantitative catastrophe and climate change modelling initiatives at Old Mutual Insure. Since joining I have developed a strategy to model, understand, and mitigate several climate related perils. This includes partnering with vendors to obtain modelling expertise, developing bespoke models in-house, and researching and presenting on the latest climate science and how it may impact a short-term insurer. My work has been well received and culminated in receiving the Employee of the Year award within first year of work. Show less

      • Senior Manager: Catastrophe and Climate Change Modelling

        Mar 2023 - now

      • Head of Actuarial Function: GENRIC Insurance

        Mar 2023 - now

  • Licenses & Certifications

    • FASSA

      Actuarial Society of South Africa
      Apr 2019

    • Short Term Practising Certificate: Head of Actuarial Function

      Actuarial Society of South Africa (ASSA)
      Oct 2022

  • Honors & Awards

    • Awarded to Caesar Balona
      Geoffrey Heywood Prize for Best Paper 2024 Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Jun 2025 The Geoffrey Heywood Prize is awarded for excellent communication and engagement with a general actuarial audience. I was awarded the prize for my British Actuarial Journal (BAJ) paper ‘ActuaryGPT: applications of large language models to insurance and actuarial work’. The panel noted that the paper was an excellent introduction to large language models (LLMs) for those wanting to learn more; that it communicated clearly with its target audience; engaged with demand for the understanding of the… Show more The Geoffrey Heywood Prize is awarded for excellent communication and engagement with a general actuarial audience. I was awarded the prize for my British Actuarial Journal (BAJ) paper ‘ActuaryGPT: applications of large language models to insurance and actuarial work’. The panel noted that the paper was an excellent introduction to large language models (LLMs) for those wanting to learn more; that it communicated clearly with its target audience; engaged with demand for the understanding of the function of LLMs in insurance. Show less
    • Awarded to Caesar Balona
      Employee of the Year Old Mutual Insure Dec 2023 I was selected as employee of the year for my contribution in leading the climate change and catastrophe modelling quantitative initiatives at Old Mutual Insure.
    • Awarded to Caesar Balona
      Highly Commended Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Nov 2023 My paper, ActuaryGPT: Applications of Large Language Models to Insurance and Actuarial Work, was highly commended during the Brian Hey award process in 2023.
    • Awarded to Caesar Balona
      Winner: CAS Hacktuary Challenge 2022 Casualty Actuarial Society Nov 2022 "A contest designed to showcase the actuarial skill set in developing novel risk engineering solutions. Entrants were challenged to create an end-user application that would be actuarially grounded but address a risk management problem of relevance to a typical consumer. Balona’s entry, Risky Router, allows users to enter start and destination points to obtain a driving route that shows just how risky that path is. This estimate flexes based on weather conditions, time of day, year of the car… Show more "A contest designed to showcase the actuarial skill set in developing novel risk engineering solutions. Entrants were challenged to create an end-user application that would be actuarially grounded but address a risk management problem of relevance to a typical consumer. Balona’s entry, Risky Router, allows users to enter start and destination points to obtain a driving route that shows just how risky that path is. This estimate flexes based on weather conditions, time of day, year of the car, whether the driver is impaired and other factors."https://www.casact.org/article/cas-announces-winners-15000-hacktuary-challenge Show less
    • Awarded to Caesar Balona
      Brian Hey Award for best paper at GIRO 2020 GI Research and Thought Leadership Committee Nov 2020 In our paper we show that applying machine learning hyper-parameterization techniques can lead to more accurate reserves and we investigate the circumstances under which different scoring metrics should be used.