Solvency II regulations boost contractor opportunities in insurance sector

According to ReThink Recruitment, IT contractors are benefiting enormously from the insurance industry’s drive to comply with Solvency II regulations, with pay at some firms exceeding £1,000 per day. Actuarial professionals working on Solvency II projects have soared through the £1,000 per day barrier, as insurers upgrade their systems in order to be fully prepared for the new requirements, due to come into effect on December 31st 2012. ReThink Recruitment says that it has recently been placing actuaries on Solvency II projects on contracts worth £1,100 per day – equivalent to around £275,000 a year and that salaries have almost doubled from last year, when staff were earning £600 per day.

In-demand candidates such as actuarial systems modellers have received pay rises of over 20% in the last six months alone, and candidates on contracts worth £900 per day are now receiving offers from rival firms of up to £1,100 a day. Many candidates are also being offered bonuses of up to 25% just to stay in their current job for six months. These bonuses, which are designed to stop rival insurers poaching key workers, are only given to the contractor on completion of the contract and usually amount to a five figure sum.

Commenting on these findings, Guy Stubbing, who is Head of the Insurance Practice at ReThink, said, “The rush to comply with Solvency II is creating enormous demand for candidates with both actuarial and IT skills. These ‘hybrid’ candidates, who are qualified actuaries with IT skills and experience in areas like risk modelling and reporting systems, are in very short supply. What we are seeing now is a bidding war, which will only intensify as the deadline draws nearer. The market is now almost entirely candidate-led – with four offers per candidate typical. Candidates have so much choice that one even rejected a £1,100 per day contract because the hirer was not prepared to allow her to work from home!

Solvency II is an European Union initiative which introduces an updated set of regulatory requirements for insurance firms that operate in the EU.

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