ARCH is an independent company whose owners are all actuarially trained

Our advice and our fees are unrelated, thus ensuring objectivity and avoiding conflicts of interest.

History

ARCH was founded by Chanan Weiss in 1998 with a view to providing personalised and independent actuarial valuation and consulting services. His experience in the areas of retirement fund consulting, damages (third party) claims and employee benefit valuations set the foundation for the ongoing development of actuarial models, reports and consulting that continue as the backbone of ARCH’s service suite.

In 2003 Chanan was joined by current partners Nilen Kambaran and Riyadh Omardien, also coming from insurance and independent actuarial consulting backgrounds.

ARCH is a 51% Black-owned independent firm. All of the owner-directors are actuaries or actuarial graduates and all are involved in the day-to-day business.

Key people

CHANAN WEISS BSC FASSA

CHANAN WEISS BSC FASSA

FELLOW ACTUARY AND VALUATOR

Chanan established ARCH in 1998 and continues to serve as its Managing Director. Prior to that he was Group Risk and Retirement Funds Manager at Norwich Life and then Consulting Actuary at Ginsburg Malan and Carsons (Actuaries and Consultants). After graduating from UCT in 1987, and spending a year travelling across Africa in the early 1990s, he passed his final actuarial exam in 1996, qualifying as a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries and a Fellow of the Actuarial Society of South Africa (ASSA).

Chanan is an FSCA-approved Valuator of Pension Funds and a Surplus Tribunal Member. He has served as ASSA’s Principal Examiner for the specialist pension fund exam. At ARCH he is the Appointed Actuary / Valuator to a portfolio of defined benefit and defined contribution retirement funds, as well as being the signing actuary for ARCH’s IAS 19 and GRAP 25 employee benefit valuations.

Chanan is married, has two daughters, lives in Cape Town and enjoys travelling, cycling, mountaineering and photography.

NILEN KAMBARAN BSC(HONS) AMASSA

NILEN KAMBARAN BSC(HONS) AMASSA

ACTUARY

Nilen is an actuary with 19 years of employee benefits experience. He worked at Norwich Life, Fifth Quadrant (Actuaries & Consultants) and PSI Actuarial Solutions, which he co-founded, before joining ARCH in 2003.

Nilen has experience in pension fund and employee benefit valuations. He fulfils supervisory and client interaction roles in the Compensation, Health and Analytics arms of ARCH.

Nilen and his partner have a son. Nilen resides in Cape Town and enjoys playing squash, outdoor activities and travel.

RIYADH OMARDIEN BBUSSC (ACTUARIAL)

RIYADH OMARDIEN BBUSSC (ACTUARIAL)

ACTUARIAL CONSULTANT

Riyadh joined ARCH in 2003, after working at Southern Life and PSI Actuarial Solutions. At ARCH he serves as Operational Manager and focuses on growing and managing a broad portfolio of clients who require third party actuarial calculations. These relate predominantly to losses of earnings arising from personal injury, and to losses of support arising from the death of a breadwinner. More broadly, Riyadh gets involved in any matter where lump sum compensation is to be granted in respect of projected money flows that are typically subject to escalation, and to various likelihoods or probabilities.

Riyadh has been involved in more than 17,000 individual third party matters, predominantly involving the Road Accident Fund (RAF).

Riyadh is married, has three (young-ish) sons, lives in Cape Town and enjoys surfing, travel and general outdoor recreation.

Core values

We strive to provide a personalised service of excellent quality.

ARCH has brought together varied talents from diverse backgrounds, giving us a strong foundation with which to pursue our goal. This is built on the key principles of:

  • Developing and maintaining close client relationships
  • Keeping abreast of professional and best practice guidelines
  • Maintaining independence to eliminate conflicts of interest
  • Innovation and flexibility ensuring the development of efficient models and templates, keeping costs to a minimum

Credentials

Independent. Actuarially owned and managed. 51% Black-owned.

Two-thirds of our directors are Historically Disadvantaged Individuals and half of our full-time staff complement are HDI.

Inexpensive but innovative. Flexible but focussed. Personalised but prompt.

We’d like to think that our client-relationship track record speaks for itself. ARCH is proud of the following achievements:

  • We have assisted over one hundred retirement funds with statutory valuations, conversions, regulatory requirements, independent consulting, surplus apportionments and IAS 19 reports
  • We have serviced over half the country’s cities and municipalities with liability calculation reports for their annual financial statements
  • We have valued and reported on over one thousand long-term employee benefit liabilities (in accordance with the relevant required financial reporting standards)
  • We have quantified losses in over 17,000 third party matters for the legal industry and the Road Accident Fund
  • We have consulted to foreign clients in Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and the United Kingdom
  • We have retained most of our clients since they commenced with us – some for as long as 20 years

Charities

Over the past five years ARCH has donated to the following charities inter alia:
Somerset Hospital
Hospital
Blankets 4 Cape Town
Supporting underprivileged
Circle of Love
Spinal cancer
SANCOB
Wildlife conservation
Work For Love
Township-based child care & skills development
Actuarial Society of South Africa
Maths outreach and Educational Trust
Western Province Cricket Club
Sport outreach
Children in the Wilderness
Conservation education and outreach
Age in Action
Assisting the aged
Beautiful gate
Supporting underprivileged communities
Turfhall Cheshire
Assisting those physically disabled

Testimonials

"We have used the services of ARCH Actuarial Consulting since 2003. They provide us with an annual report on the company’s post-employment medical aid subsidy for financial reporting. We have always been happy with their services and prices and have no hesitation recommending them to other potential clients."

An international mining company

"We use ARCH because they are prompt, affordable, accurate and consistent."

A leading financial services group

"We are satisfied with their prices, levels of expertise, thoroughness and after-sales service, and would recommend them to any other organization requiring similar actuarial input."

One of South Africa’s largest cities

"Chanan Weiss has always delivered a product of excellent quality within the time constraints given. We have no hesitation in recommending ARCH."

A university

"For many years now, our firm has been instructing ARCH Actuarial Consulting (ARCH) on several of our matters. We have found ARCH’s turnaround time phenomenal and their execution of their instructions to be precise. The ARCH team are often placed under tremendous pressure by our firm to furnish us with calculations, based on several scenarios, within a very short time frame and yet their team is always friendly and accommodating. The ARCH team are an absolute pleasure to work with and we look forward to many more years working together."

Firm of attorneys

"I have found ARCH to be always reliable, often assisting on an urgent basis under tight turnaround times, while maintaining their professional code, objectivity and high standards. Their knowledge and experience in the field is invaluable when it comes to important and unusual aspects of any type of personal injury loss calculation. Reports they produce are understandable and consistent, and they remain available at a moment’s notice to discuss and explain their calculations when necessary."

Firm of attorneys

"Their service has always been of the highest standards. They are an institution with integrity who deliver accurate calculations and are always up to date with the latest developments in the field. Further to this they are extremely efficient and can be relied on to deliver reports in a very short turnaround time."

Firm of attorneys

"We have built up a trustworthy relationship and we have been provided with a comprehensive and a high level of service. Their service has always been, without exception, of a high standard, friendly, expeditious and efficient. They have an unrivalled turn-around time. We…have no hesitation in recommending their services."

Firm of attorneys