



The report, which analyses online vacancies advertised in England and Wales between August 2014 and July 2016, found underwriting and actuarial roles were by far the most common jobs advertised, accounting for almost half of all finance roles in insurance.

However, it revealed while underwriting had the largest number of roles advertised (564) between August 2015 and July 2016, actuarial vacancies experienced the largest year-on-year net change of any specialism.

There were 361 more actuarial jobs advertised in the year ending July 2016, representing an 8% growth from the previous year. Underwriting suffered a 3% drop of the number of vacancies during the same period.

In life insurance, actuarial is the largest finance specialism with a 27% growth in the year ending July 2016, with 113 roles advertised compared with 89 between August 2014 and July 2015.

For non-life firms, underwriting had the highest number with 508 jobs advertised in the past 12 months. However, this was a 6% drop from the previous year. The number of actuarial vacancies also fell to 179, a 10% decrease from the year to July 2015.

Recruitment firm HFG explained that the main reason for the change in demand for actuarial talent in the life and non-life sectors was because of M&A/consolidation activities.

"The major deals in the life sector preceded the non-life market and the subsequent headcount reviews and recruitment freezes have been more recent in the non-life space," HFG told The Actuary.

The report found that in the past 24 months insurance recruitment had been positive.

"This overall trend is unexpected, since the finance industry as a whole is one of the most exposed to the hiring slowdown triggered by Brexit uncertainty," said the report.

The company does not expect significant changes in recruitment in the short term and firms' operations will be business as usual (BAU).

"It's likely that the legal/governance area will be extremely busy but it appears the lack of clarity on what and when Brexit will really start to move forward means that not much has happened yet.

"It's unlikely actuarial recruitment in the insurance sector will be impacted by Brexit in the next 12 months and the major factor will still be the integration of Solvency II into BAU and firms focusing on new areas and possibly structural changes."