Following the near collapse of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, the government commissioned Derek Morris, the former head of the Competition Commission, to look into the failings of the actuarial profession and make recommendations for reform (2005). His report highlighted concerns about the process by which the profession had sought to keep its syllabus and teaching materials up to date, about the way that ‘entrenched commercial interests’ had hindered the development of the institute's education policy, referring to 'an insularity that constrained the extent and effectiveness of input from academics, other professions and those in wider fields of practice'. The Review proposed a regime of independent oversight of the institute's regulation of the profession by the Financial Reporting Council. Presidents of the Institute of Actuaries 1848–1860 John Finlaison (1783–1860) 1860–1867 Charles Jellicoe (1804–1882) 1867–1870 Samuel Brown (1812–1875) 1870–1872 William Barwick Hodge (1802–1885) 1872–1875 Robert Tucker (1815–1875) 1875–1878 John Hill Williams (1814–1887) 1878–1882 Arthur Hutcheson Bailey (1823–1912) 1882–1886 Thomas Bond Sprague MA LLD (1830–1920) 1886–1888 Archibald Day (1830–1904) 1888–1890 William Sutton MA (1842–1898) 1890–1892 Benjamin Newbatt (1834–1896) 1892–1894 Augustus Hendrik (1834–1905) 1894–1896 Alexander John Finlaison CB (1840–1900) 1896–1898 Thomas Emley Young BA FRAS (1843–1933) 1898–1900 Henry William Manly (1844–1914) 1900–1902 Charles Daniel Higham(1849–1935) 1902–1904 William Hughes (1839–1912) 1904–1906 Henry Cocburn (1848–1936) 1906–1908 Frank Bertrand Wyatt (1853–1929) 1908–1910 Sir George Francis Hardy KCB (1855–1914) 1910–1912 Sir Gerald Hemmington Ryan, 1st Baronet (1861–1937) 1912–1914 Frederick Schooling (1851–1937) 1914–1916 Ernest Woods (1855–1932) 1916–1918 Samuel George Warner (1858–1928) 1918–1920 Geoffrey Marks CBE (1865–1938) 1920–1922 Sir Alfred William Watson KCB (1870–1936) 1922–1924 William Peyton Phelps MA (1865–1942) 1924–1926 Arthur Digby Besant BA (1869–1960) 1926–1928 Sir Joseph Burn KBE (1871–1950) 1928–1930 Abraham Levine MA (1870–1949) 1930–1932 Harold Moltke Trouncer MA (1871–1948) 1932–1934 Sir William Palin Elderton KBE PhD (Oslo) (1877–1962) 1934–1936 Charles Ronald Vawdrey Coutts (1876–1938) 1936–1938 Henry Brown MA (1876–1943) 1938–1940 Henry John Percy Oakley MC (1878–1942) 1940–1942 William Penman MBE (1880–1970) 1942–1944 Henry Edward Melville (1883–1976) 1944–1946 Reginald Claud Simmonds (1888–1969) 1946–1948 Sir Andrew Herrick Rowell MA (1890–1973) 1948–1950 Sir George Henry Maddex KBE (1895–1982) 1950–1952 Frederick August Andrew Menzler CBE BSc (1888–1968) 1952–1954 Walter Frank Gardner CBE (1900–1983) 1954–1956 John Farrant Bunford MA (1901–1992) 1956–1958 Charles Florestan Wood (1905–1979) 1958–1960 Frank Mitchell Redington MA (1906–1984) 1960–1962 John Henry Gunlake CBE (1905–1990) 1962–1964 Kenneth Ascough Usherwood CBE MA (1904–1988) 1964–1966 Sir Herbert Tetley KBE CB MA (1908–1999) 1966–1968 Bernard Benjamin PhD (1910–2002) 1968–1970 James Basil