– Underwriters wonder where they'll find more of it should they face another major insured event
– Regulators question whether carriers have enough of it to support their current exposures
– Clients consider (re)insurance as an alternative source of it
– While the banks, despite the multi-trillion bailouts, continue to sit on theirs
It’s all about capital, it seems, in today’s (re)insurance market.
But one form of capital that’s had less attention of late is good old fashioned human capital. With many financial services institutions scaling back, there’s a wider array of human capital on offer to insurance firms right now.
Some commentators have expressed surprise that ‘at a time like this’ we should see Insurance Linked Securities and other such dark arts enjoying a renaissance.
'Credit Default Swap' may still be a combination of words that nobody wants to hear, but derivatives in one form or another are definitely back on the menu.
Such products require a very specific set of skills, for which a number of insurance entities are now back in the market – creating opportunities for suitably endowed candidates.
The market grapevine hangs heavy with talk of new specialist units under construction and we can confirm that more than one insurance firm is actively looking for experienced drivers of alternative capital vehicles.
Individuals with appropriate knowledge and contacts in this area of the market can perhaps now mothball plans for a complete career change and look forward to a new lease of life doing what they do best.
Another area of the insurance recruitment market that is looking distinctly livelier again is the mid-size tier of the London broker market, where a number of firms are looking to capitalise on the fallout from the Aon–Benfield deal and pick up on opportunities flowing from the client market’s increasingly desperate search for (re)insurance capacity and underwriters’ desire to mitigate their more worrisome nett exposures.
Indeed, the tough choices facing insurers between increased retentions on the one hand and increased reinsurance costs for similar cover on the other may go some way to explaining the current upsurge in interest in so-called alternative solutions.
