For those of you that aren’t involved within the financial services / insurance sectors, you probably haven’t heard of Solvency II. For those who do work in insurance or an associated industry, then you must have been living in Timbuktu not to have heard of it!
Every few years or so, a new financial services regulation / initiative seems to appear that sets clients and recruiters alike into a frenzy of excitement or fear. Much like Basel II, WRAP, MiFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive), A Day, Sarbanes Oxley and TCF (Treating Customers Fairly), Solvency II is the latest directive that is sending the Insurance world into a spin.
The official description from the FSA is:
“Solvency 2 is a fundamental review of the capital adequacy regime for the European insurance industry. It aims to establish a revised set of EU-wide capital requirements and risk management standards that will replace the current Solvency 1 requirements. Solvency 2 will set out new, strengthened EU-wide requirements on capital adequacy and risk management for insurers with a view to reducing the likelihood of an insurer failing; the strengthened regime should reduce the possibility of consumer loss or market disruption in insurance.”
Or in simple terms, Solvency II is trying to stop what happened to Northern Rock (and other similar Banks) from occurring in the Insurance industry. It’s a major EU Directive and all EU based insurers are going to have to comply.
So, how does this affect you and I, the Project Management professionals?
Well, in the last 3 – 6 months I’ve recieved more and more Solvency II based PM roles. As this directive is still in it’s infancy it hasn’t been easy, in some cases impossible, to find candidates who have genuinely worked on or managed Solvency II projects - but all my clients are still asking for proven Solvency II experience. It’s the age-old chicken and egg scenario – how do you get SII experience if clients will only consider candidates who already have it?
If I’m honest…….luck, mostly. Right place, right time. You can read up on it all you like, but unless you’ve actually got commercial experience it’s unlikely you will get your foot through the door.
Unless………you’ve worked with Actuaries
The most common and re-occurring background that seems to be desirable within Solvency II programmes is someone who has worked on projects with Actuaries or within Actuarial Departments. A major part of all Solvency II Programmes involves close contact with Actuaries, and most of our clients believe that you need a different approach / set of skills when managing them as stakeholders, getting information from them and gathering requirements from them.
I’ve spoken to a few PMs in the last couple of months who have managed to secure a SII PM interview due to their previous experience of working with Actuaries. You obviously still need to be a good PM and demonstrate your excellent PM skills at interview, but it’s often been the Actuarial knowledge that has allowed them to wedge the door open and get in front of that elusive Solvency II Hiring Manager!
Going, Going, Gone!
The other trend I’ve seen happening this year has been PMs who’ve gained around 3 months or so experience on a SII project, then starting to actively look to sell their skills to a higher bidder – and who can blame them!
If you’ve taken the practical approach over the last year or so and been flexible on your rate (!), then why shouldn’t you take advantage to get you rate back up (and probably above) to what it was in a busier market – and Solvency II skills seem to be extremely lucrative in the current market. I’ve seen good PMs go from £400pd to £700pd, based almost solely on having worked on a SII programme for just 3 months.
Personally, I’ve had 3 separate offers of 12 month contracts turned down by SII PMs who’ve gone to another client paying more money, based closer to home, more flexible on location etc – it’s rare in this industry to have a 12 month contract at £700pd rejected, but it just goes to show how in-demand these PMs are, and the choices they have at their disposal.
In fact, it’s often the smaller insurers who are paying the higher daily rates (£650pd+) for SII people – I guess they appreciate how important it is to get this Solvency II stuff right, and are doing what they can to get the right people.
So in conclusion, if you can get involved in a Solvency II Programme then do so, immediately, then send your CV to me…………
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