The insurance sector in 2013

2013 saw a lot of activity in the insurance industry for company secretaries not just from a recruitment point of view, but also the regulatory changes and general market improvements.

 

With the FSA being split into the FCA and PRA, the constant regulatory evolution and the ever looming Solvency II issue, company secretary departments within financial services, and in particular insurance, have seen their exposure and visual importance increase throughout company departments and the executive. This has lead to a strong upturn in recruitment within secretariat departments and contributed to the company secretary profession being the fourth quickest growing department in the UK in 2013, according to the Telegraph’s employment survey.

 

The market saw a significant increase in the number of IPOs last year, and a good few from within the insurance sector including; Partnership Assurance, Esure Group and Just Retirement. This has been very positive news for the sector and the secretariat profession and will no doubt have a knock-on effect this year.

 

I see these factors as a sign of confidence for this year as the financial services institutions, like banks and insurance business, typically lead the economic recovery curve. This, coupled with the positive conversations with those within my insurance network, make me comfortable in asserting the potential for continual growth within insurance company secretariats especially at the junior to mid level.

 

The strength of my insurance network made it possible me to produce the first company secretarial salary survey for the Sector, which was well received when it was released last year. If you are interested in receiving a copy please do drop me a line. Similarly if you have any ideas on further salary and benefits differentiators within this sector or would like to discuss your departments or personal remuneration in confidence do not hesitate to contact me: 020 3058 1443 / Rory@dmjcosec.com

Public not convinced by remuneration guidelines

According to a recent survey by our partner The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) in conjunction with the Financial Times, 76% of respondents believe that new remuneration guidelines – which emphasise the need for companies to justify pay – will fail to ease public concerns about excessive executive pay.

The FT-ICSA Boardroom Bellwether is a twice-yearly report which seeks to gauge the sentiment inside UK boardrooms. The aim is to develop a definitive business barometer, which shows how boards are positioning themselves to address the challenges of the economy, and the wider business and social climate in which they operate. The fourth edition of the report finds a clear consensus that the new guidelines will have little impact on public perception.

Executive pay has been a major talking point over the last 12 months, in light of the Watchdog enquiry into the severance packages awarded to several BBC executives. This week a think tank from The High Pay Centre calculated that, on Wednesday, Chief Executives at FTSE 100 companies had already earned more than the average employee will take home this year. Clearly, the correlation between money earned by executives and value for money for shareholders is being publicly questioned.

Last October the Association of General Council (GC100) published its guidance for boardrooms releasing the annual reports on remuneration. These guidelines are designed to increase focus on accountability, and justifying directors’ pay rather than simply reporting them. The new measures mean that reports must display every element of pay that an executive could be entitled to, including any entitlement to an exit payment and what performance measures will be applied.

However according to the Bellwether report, it will take more than guidelines to affect popular perception. The survey also shows that 31% of boards are planning to review their overall level of remunerations in the next 12 months, with 18% aiming to establish a stronger link between pay and performance. Whether this will be enough to win over the doubters remains to be seen.

What are your thoughts? Let us know by commenting below.

 

Gender diversity improving according to boards

According to a recent survey by our partner The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) in conjunction with the Financial Times, 51% of firms now believe that their board is diverse in terms of gender.

The FT-ICSA Boardroom Bellwether is a twice-yearly report which seeks to gauge the sentiment inside UK boardrooms. The aim is to develop a definitive business barometer, which shows how boards are positioning themselves to address the challenges of the economy, and the wider business and social climate in which they operate. The fourth edition of the report sees a growing confidence in gender diversity, with a 19% increase from July 2013 in those who claimed to have diverse boards.

There has also been a rise in the perceived quality of the female executive pipeline, with 25% of companies now believing it is sufficient to meet future need, compared to only 4% in the last report. Looking ahead, 57% of firms now anticipate they will meet Lord Davies’ target of 25% female board members by 2015.

This positive outlook is matched by the view that the government will not resort to bringing in quotas for female board members. The report shows the number of respondents who believe they will not be required rising to 67%, with only one in 10 convinced that they will be brought in.

These results show that although there is a long way to go in the battle for boardroom gender diversity, there is a confidence within boards themselves that the situation is improving.

What are your thoughts? Let us know by commenting below.

Stay tuned for our next Bellwether Report blog next week.