Introduction and Purpose of Course Stephen is the CEO of the FSAA. He is a chartered accountant and has been working in the Insurance industry for over 12 years (with 15 years in total in accounting and audit). He has spent the majority of his career in professional services providing assurance and advisory services to various parts of the insurance sector. He recently spent five years as a Director at Deloitte in Sydney, with the six years prior to this also in insurance external audit in the Netherlands and Bermuda. Stephen is a member and graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Module 1, Overview of the Life Insurance Industry Kos Dimitriou is a Chartered Tax Adviser and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales with over 25 years of experience in financial services taxation, most recently as Head of Tax & Regulatory Reporting at Acenda Life (formerly MLC Limited). During his tenure at Acenda Life, he also served as the Acting Chief Financial Officer for a 6-month period, during a period of acute capital and regulatory pressure securing $290M from its shareholders, Nippon Life and NAB. He has deep expertise in the taxation of life insurance companies, superannuation funds, and managed investment trusts, including having led the tax stream for Acenda Life's AASB 17 (Insurance Contracts) transition — working closely with Treasury, the ATO and APRA over a multi-year advocacy campaign. Kos has also held senior tax roles at National Australia Bank and PricewaterhouseCoopers, and currently chairs the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee of St Basil Aged Care NSW & ACT.
Module 2, Products and classification Avery is a Senior Manager in KPMG’s Insurance Audit practice, with experience across clients in both Australia and Canada. Since seconding to Australia in 2024, Avery has led a range of assurance and regulatory engagements across the Life and General Insurance industry, supporting both ASX-listed and privately held clients of varying sizes.
Module 3 Reporting under AASB 17 - Insurance Contracts Kathy Allison is a Director in EY’s IFRS Professional Practice based in Sydney. She has over 15 years’ experience in the insurance markets in Australia and South Africa. In her role she provides support to clients across a range of complex technical accounting matters. She is currently actively working with several life, general and health and reinsurers to support their interpretation and application of IFRS 17. She is a member of EY’s Global IFRS Insurance Technical Panel and a key contributor to the preparation of IFRS 17 disclosure publications. Kathy is a qualified CA(SA).
Module 3 Reporting under AASB 17 - Insurance Contracts Shweta (Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia) is a Director within EY’s Actuarial Services practice with over 14 years’ experience. Shweta has significant technical expertise and broad coverage of the key issues typically arising in Australian life insurance business. Shweta has deep knowledge of IFRS 17 requirements, having supported and advised a range of large Australian life insurers on IFRS 17 accounting policies and methodologies, operational and financial impact assessments and implementation projects. She has presented on the implications of IFRS 17 to a number of clients, including the Actuaries Institute conferences in May 2017 and August 2020 and the Tax Conference in 2019.
Module 4, Life Accounting Concepts; Module 5, Accounting for Superannuation Funds and Module 8, Regulation of the Insurance Industry Victor Walter is a qualified CA with over 30 years' experience. He is the recently retired Deputy CEO Corporate Services and CFO at National Disability Insurance Agency. Previously he was in the role of Group Deputy Chief Financial Officer of QBE Insurance Group Limited. He served as Chief Finance Officer for QBE Australia New Zealand from 2001 until he moved into his new role. Victor has been a member of the FSSA since 2001 and became President in 2009. He once again serves as Present and Secretary. Outside of his Insurance life Victor’s passion is Rowing where he is on the Board of NSW Rowing.
Module 6, Dynamic Financial Analysis Peter is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia, and works in the Financial Services industry in Sydney. Currently, he leads a team with expertise in group and retail risk pricing, plus project related work, and actuarial advice, across Australia and New Zealand. This team works directly with the Appointed Actuary, plus many other areas across the business.
Resolution Life Australasia (previously AMP Life), is a member of Resolution Life Group
Module 7, Management and performance reporting Ajay is a Director within EY’s Finance practice with over 16 years’ experience. Ajay works in the space of Finance Transformation involving Processes, Technology, Data and Op Model for financial services clients. Ajay has deep knowledge of finance process related to finance data supply from data collection, storage, standardisation, business use and final reporting. His experience in the last 10 years across Australia and UK is primarily for Insurances and Banks. Ajay has led multiple complex Finance Transformation projects delivering value to the finance function and to the organisation as a whole.