Pursue > North America
Since I am an Actuary from North America, I will introduce the North American system which I am familiar with.
In North America, Actuaries can be categorized into two big groups; Life Actuaries and Property and Casualty Actuaries (P&C Actuaries).
Life Actuaries deal with life-related actuarial field such as life insurance, health insurance, pension, and write the SOA exams and become a FSA.
P&C Actuaries deal with non life actuarial field such as auto insurance, fire insurance, marine insurance, credit insurance, and write the CAS exams and become a FCAS.
All actuaries (Both Life Actuaries and P&C Actuaries) who want to practise in Canada need to write Canadian exams to become FCIA from CIA.
I am a CERA, FSA and FCIA. That means I had to complete all exams from SOA to obtain the FSA designation. Also because of my specialization in risk management I took the risk management track in my actuarial studies. I obtained my CERA designation as well from SOA. After I got my FSA, I have to write an exam from Canadian Institute of Actuaries in order to become an FCIA.
More details on the exams are available in the following website: FSA, CERA, and FCIA