Whilst totally respecting the status of Fellows of the Faculty of Actuaries who are not based in Scotland there does seem something quite wrong with the idea that the continued existence of a professional body based in Scotland could be voted out of existence partly by Fellows based elsewhere (South Africa, England, Ireland etc.)
If Scotland gains more independence the logical consequence of a merger vote is surely that if not now then at some future date an independent local actuarial professional body will develop as in Ireland, for example, and in many other independent or even semi-independent states.
If the proposals for merger are passed by the required majority of Faculty members it seems to me that actuaries based in Scotland should consider whether they (as opposed to the Faculty membership drawn which is drawn from a number of countries) wish to have their own independent professional body (similar to the Society of Actuaries in Ireland perhaps) and seek to ensure that membership of this body would be afforded the similar status under UK legislation to the Chartered Actuarial Profession. Perhaps there will be insufficient interest at this point in time among Scottish actuaries to establish a new national professional body but on the other hand why not? It seems to have worked in Ireland.