Insurance Market Insights Q2 2017

On a broader perspective, the Insurance job market was slow to kick off after New Year festivities. As we reached the midpoint of Q1 2017, job volumes steadily started to increase, and there was a noticeable uplift in a few specific areas.

Strong professionals who have a specialist skillset in these niche areas have found themselves in high demand, often interviewing with multiple organisations or receiving multiple offers.  

Corporate Governance remained a busy area due to expanding teams or replacement hires. There has been a good level of hiring across areas of Compliance, IT Audit, Business Audit, and Risk. These hires were mostly at the manager level, although there had been some hires at the senior level.

We also saw that while Finance hiring has been particularly lagging with a low volume of opportunities, there continued to be a crowded talent pool for Finance, and these professionals face intense competition for jobs.

Excellent actuarial talent continued to be scarce

Actuaries, particularly on the Life Insurance side, were in high demand not only for Assistant Manager and Manager positions but also for Specialist positions including Pricing Specialists and Product Developers. Competition for exceptional actuarial talent has been intense, and insurers have always looked after the strongest actuarial talent in the business well enough. These actuarial professionals have very few reasons to move and can ‘have their pick’ of employers.

In the past months, we have seen a relatively busy period for the recruitment of Underwriting professionals, in both Life Insurance and specialist General Insurance markets. We have also seen some insurance companies investing in underwriting automation projects in an effort to keep up with times. Regionally, we observed a growing preference by insurers for professionals with local market expertise, i.e. ‘on the ground’ talent rather than expat talent located in hubs.  

What's ahead for Insurance hiring in Q2 2017

We are working with several consultancies looking to expand their Insurance capability and experience. These consultancies are often open to talent from a consulting specialist background, as well as talent from the Insurance industry looking to move into a consulting remit.  

Moving into Q2, the bonus payout season, we expect to see the usual increase in job movements across the Insurance market during this period, although not quite to the extent we have seen in previous years due to job seekers' cautious mindsets and more realistic expectations.

We expect bonuses to be quite flat, although we advise employers to take a careful approach to talent retention in high-demand, niche areas. It is often far costlier to lose talent in these specialised areas, as these professionals cannot be readily replaced. 

Insurance
Salary Report for Q2 2017*

*Notes about salary table:

1. Titles and levels vary from organisation to organisation.

2. The salary ranges given are only approximate guides. For tailored salary advice, please contact us directly.

3. 12-month base salaries are assumed.

4. All other benefits and bonuses are in addition to these figures.

5. Bonus ranges can vary significantly from company to company and will be influenced by market conditions, business and individual performances. Bonus ranges from 1 month at the low end to 100%+ at the upper.

6. Holiday entitlements range from 12–25 days with senior executives not usually receiving less than 18 days. Less than 15 is very rare and 20 days is becoming the norm.

7. Healthcare policies are standard.

8. Pension plans vary with some companies offering greater than the standard contribution. Top up schemes can increase employer contribution levels as much as 15–20% of the base salary for senior executives.