Travellers Will Prosper

In 2011 adventurous professionals able and willing to work in a new location will prosper. The end of 2010 has seen a remarkable spike in demand for professionals with global flexibility and the willing to leave the safe haven on London, across almost all technical disciplines. What is more, experience tells us that individuals willing to forgo the comfort of a traditional career ladder, can jump a couple of rungs when they travel and work together (no promises).

It is hard to put a finger on exactly what is driving this surge of demand, but it seems to be a combination of factors;

Solvency 2: The multitude of questions that compliance raises for insurers is a clear catalyst for hiring and the sharing of expertise across Europe.

Profits in the East: The growth and relative profitability of Bancassurance , Joint Venture's and domestic Insurers in the Far East seems to have sparked a boom of interest to hire experts in those markets, but also to attract professionals with managerial experience developed with UK and European Insurers.

IFRS Phase 2: Looms large over Financial Reporting and it seems that the major European Insurers have the same, if not deeper issues in preparing for this change. This problem is only likely to exacerbate and spark a mini-boom for the Professional Advisors or those prepared to travel extensively.

Near Shore vs. Offshore: As a recruitment consultancy, we have not been able to see a clear pattern but certainly Offshoring of back office functions has not been universally successful in financial services and particularly our major Swiss clients seem to be drawing control back to the Head Office.