With more news about the FSA's future filtering through, the regulator has lost another member of its team. Paul Brenchley, who was a manager within the Solvency II department has joined KPMG's Insurance Risk Team as a director. Brenchley's work involved developing the Solvency II regime at the FSA with particular focus upon the Pillar 2 and Pillar 3 requirements.
High Finance Group has been following the changes at the FSA closely, and is interested to see this new development.
Richard Wallis has once again displayed his prowess with a course record shattering 63 to take the Tylney Park Classic title.
The Post Online has today reported that Jean Drouffe has been appointed Group Finance and Risk Director at Axa Uk. He is replacing Ian Robinson who has taken up the position of Global Head of Internal Audit at Axa Group. High Finance Group is interested to see what impact this will have to the internal structure of Axa with Mr Drouffe taking up responsibility for teams within tax, treasury and investment, risk, compliance, legal, company secretariat and strategy.
Following the announcement that Mark Norris departed the FSA at the beginning of July, a further two senior FSA staff have handed in their resignation. Since the coalition government announced plans to hand over regulatory power to the Bank of England, the FSA's future has looked bleak. The two new resignations are Jon Pain (FSA Board Member and Managing Director of Supervision) and Tony Brooke-Taylor (Head of Wholesale Insurance Firms). With the former leaving in 2011 (because there will be "no suitable role for him in the new structure") and the latter to leave in early July, it is looking as though there will be very few of the old guard to help continue the work of the FSA when the power is handed over. Evidently this will affect the FSA, however with the regulator continuing to recruit it will be interesting to see just exactly how it will alter this.
Although the outlook for recent graduates is gloomy with a decline in the number of graduate roles, the insurance industry has gone against this and is this year predicted to see an increase in roles. With current statistics showing that there are up to 70 graduates per job, this could be good news for the Insurance sector. High Finance Group hopes that this will mean the top graduates will be attracted to the Insurance industry with the possibility of more exciting roles and the opportunity to progress.
The Insurance Times has today produced a report stating that an increased demand for risk professionals due to Solvency II is pushing up pay. Since 2009 the average day rate has increased by 30% to date, and by the end of the year, the annual salary will increase by 35%. This is excellent news for the risk professionals that High Finance Group works with, and ties in with the news that High Finance Group reported on 16th June, that softer skills are becoming more valued within the risk profession. This means that those individuals with softer skills can expect a huge pay increase within the coming months as company's look to increase their Risk sectors to cover the regulatory requirements of Solvency II.
Mark Norris, COO and MD of the FSA, left the FSA yesterday, 1st July. He will be replaced by Lesley Titcomb in acting capacity. High Finance Group are interested to see how this will affect the FSA's structure, and what repercussions it will have on other staff.
The Chief Executive of the FSA, Hector Sants, will remain with the authority and lead the conversion to the new organisation in 2012. High Finance Group hopes that this will mean the FSA has the stability and leadership necessary to make this transition as Sants has had much success in the three years that he has already spent with the FSA as CEO.
Four members of the senior management team at Canopius Managing Agents have been promoted. High Finance Group are interested to see what effects this will have upon the future employment within the company.
A new survey sponsored by Ace has found that Risk Managers who demonstrate passion and the ability to network effectively are more likely to achieve success. These findings are key to the values held by High Finance Group when placing candidates.
