Successful City Based US Insurance Company requires a Qualified Accountant with Insurance experience to join their growing Finance team.

• Prepare the annual and quarterly Solvency II Pillar 3 returns.
• Assist in the preparation of reinsurance returns (combined with Pillar 3 reporting).
• Work as part of the team to meet all external reporting obligations.
• Work with the actuarial department over the Standard formula calculations for each entity.
• Have the ability to build on a data store working with IT to capture all Pillar 3 data requirements and aid reporting processes to become more efficient.
• Keep up to date with any changes in reporting requirements arising from regulatory or business expansion.
• Ensure ready for 2017 reporting, including annual Pillar 3 reporting.

 Candidates should be Qualified with Insurance experience and Solvency II.

This role will be supporting the Solvency II team in accounting policy and the completion of the implementation of Solvency II Pillar 3 for a major London based insurance business.

Working within a highly specialised Solvency II team to ensure the completion of the implementation of the Solvency II Pillar 3 (supervisory reporting and disclosure) regime across Lloyd’s syndicates.  This includes ensuring that the business meets its Pillar 3 reporting requirements as the insurance industry moves into ‘live’ Solvency II from 2016.

• Qualified Accountant
• Good understanding of insurance and Lloyd’s market financial and regulatory reporting, including Solvency II Pillar 3
• Good Understanding of Solvency II
• Good technical knowledge or UK GAAP/IFRS
• Knowledge /experience of Lloyd’s returns
• Advanced knowledge of Excel and Access

This role is instrumental in completing the implementation of the Solvency II Pillar 3 (supervisory reporting and disclosure) regime along with developing accounting policy for an industry leading insurance business.

Completing the implementation of the Solvency II Pillar 3 (supervisory reporting and disclosure) regime to ensure syndicates meet Pillar 3 reporting requirements as Lloyd’s move into ‘live’ Solvency II from 2016.

Developing accounting policy, including assessing the impact on the developments in UK and international accounting standards for financial and regulatory reporting, with particular reference to IASB’s IFRS Phase II project.

• Qualified Accountant
• Detailed understanding of insurance and Lloyd’s market financial and regulatory reporting, including Solvency II Pillar 3
• Good understanding of Solvency II as a whole
• Excellent technical knowledge of UK GAAP and IFRS
• Knowledge /experience of Lloyd’s Core Market Return systems
• Advanced knowledge of excel and access

Overview

Annual and Quarterly Filing to the regulator for Solvency II for all entities. This will also involve assisting in the development of internal systems to efficiently produce pillar 3 reports as well as helping with the implementation and testing of Solvency II specific systems due to be introduced.

Overview of outsourced Gibraltar insurer accounting process including quarterly reconciliation between US GAAP and locally reported results.

Specific Responsibilities

• Assist in the development of solvency II infrastructure to meet the reporting requirements as efficiently as possible.
• Production of quarterly Solvency II returns.
• Production of annual Solvency II returns.
• Quarterly reconciliation on Gibraltar insurer to reconcile US GAAP result to locally reported result.
• Quarterly report on foreign exchange exposure including analysis of quarterly movements.
• Assist with branch reporting to Head Office, including detailed analysis of significant variances.
• Provide tax return data for international branches and manage tax ledgers.

Skills & Experience Required

• CIMA qualified accountant or finalist.
• Advanced Excel skills.
• Experience of Sun preferable.
• Strong analytical and review skills.
• Able to work on own initiative.
• Insurance/Reinsurance experience preferred.
• Strong communication and presentation skills.

Insurers are extremely concerned with last minute requirements being made of them ahead of Solvency II implementation on 1 January, according to a survey from industry trade body Insurance Europe.

A poll that covered companies accounting for 90 percent of European insurance premiums found that respondents were worried that guidelines necessary to comply with pillar 3 of the regime would only be adopted by the European Commission this September – four months before Solvency II comes into force.

Pillar 3 lays out standards on disclosure and reporting and the final version of the quantitative reporting templates (QRT) are required in order to comply with it.

Insurers will need to post interim QRTs annually or quarterly, depending on what type of firm they are.

Other concerns included the possibility of a flurry of applications for approval being submitted at a time when supervisors’ resources were already stretched, as well as extensive documentation requirements delaying the approval process of internal models. Nearly all respondents warned that supervisors’ demands in this latter area were too burdensome.

Insurance Europe added that work to comply with further requirements set by member states was slowing down the implementation process, with several respondents reporting that their member state was “gold plating” Solvency II when transposing it into national law.

However, the federation said that a clear majority of firms were making good progress in implementing the first two pillars of Solvency II and that most insurers felt that risk management and governance had already improved through introducing the new regime.

Insurance Europe head of prudential regulation Igotz Aubin said that the progress towards implementing Solvency II made by European insurers was encouraging given the challenging time for the industry at present.

“While the industry shares the aims of Solvency II, policymakers and supervisors must also appreciate the significant burden which its implementation is placing on insurers,” he said.

“The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and local supervisors should therefore avoid imposing last minute requirements and interpretations which add to that obligation,” he added.

Well known City based Insurance Company require a Reporting Accountant to assist the Syndicate Manager and Financial Controller in all aspects of financial reporting.

Key responsibilities

• Assist in the preparation of financial statements for all entities.
• Assist in the preparation of regulatory returns for both PRA and Lloyd’s (including Pillar 3 returns).
• Assist in the group and management reporting.
• Prepare documentation to support the audit process.
• Assist in the successful completion of the audit process.
• Assist in the successful completion of the corporate projects.

Candidates should be Qualified or studying towards an Accounting Qualification.

Proficient in the use of the following packages; Great Plains, FRX, IRIS

Exposure to Insurance industry, especially the London Market.

Solvency II / Pillar 3 experience a plus

Responsible for the UK finance function of a very successful insurance company and assisting with financial close and reporting.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

• Professional accounting qualification (ACA or equivalent)
• 5 years post qualification experience, including at least 3 years within the re/insurance sector
• 2 years of experience supervising other finance staff
• Good knowledge of US and UK GAAP
• Strong and current technical knowledge of Solvency II
• Experience working with senior management and Boards
• Experience of accounting systems and processes implementation and development preferred
• High proficiency in the Microsoft Office Suite of applications, including advanced Excel skills
• Must be able to lead effectively and work effectively both independently and with teams.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver and manage accurate thoughtful detail-oriented work within tight deadlines
• Ideally a critical and creative thinker with a deep technical understanding of re/insurance risk and a strong understanding of investment risk.

• Lloyd’s existing “business as usual “reporting – QMA, QMB QMC, etc
• Strong excel
• Demonstrable experience of improvements to processes and systems.
• Staff management preferable
• Offshoring
• Lloyd’s future Solvency II pillar 3 (participation in dry-runs for pillar 3 preferred)

Qualified Accountant (ACA/ACCA/ CIMA) with 5+ years PQE

The Bank of England (BoE)’s Prudential Policy Directorate has set out penalties for firms that fail to meet the Solvency II capital standards.

According to a report issued last week (8 June), the BoE said that the two capital requirements introduced by Solvency II would act as trigger points in the regime’s “supervisory ladder of intervention”.

The solvency capital requirement (SCR) is the quantity of capital intended to provide protection against unexpected losses over the following year, up to the statistical level of a 1-in-200-year event.

Meanwhile, the minimum capital requirement (MCR) denotes the level below which policyholders would be exposed to an unacceptable level of risk.

If a firm breached the SCR, it would be required to develop a plan “to restore its capital position and/or reduce its risk profile”, the BoE said, adding that falling below the SCR would represent an intervention point for supervisors to take action.

In addition, distributions to investors would either be cancelled or deferred.

Should a firm breach the MCR, regulatory action would be taken and the company would be required to submit a plan for approval explaining how it planned to restore capital above the MCR within three months, the BoE said.

If the firm was unable to do so, its authorisation may be withdrawn.

Insurers are currently preparing for the full implementation of Solvency II on 1 January 2016.

Although companies are expected to be compliant from this point, measures have been put in place that allow firms a transitional period of up to 10 years to replace capital instruments that are not compliant with Solvency II requirements.

The report also warned firms that they should recognise the limitations of internal models, which can be used to calculate the SCR in a way that takes into account the specific risk profile of the insurer.

“It is important that firms do not place undue reliance on internal models or treat them as ‘black boxes’ and simply take model outputs at face value,” the report noted.

“As with all models, the output of an internal model relies on the quality and quantity of input data and the design and calibration of the model itself.”

It explained that if a firm’s risk profile significantly deviated from the assumptions underpinning the calculation of the SCR by an internal model, supervisors could demand that the company change the model.

“In exceptional cases, the Prudential Regulation Authority [PRA] will be able to impose a ‘capital add-on’ that would increase the SCR to the quantity of capital that would reflect the true risk profile.”

In addition, the report highlighted areas that Solvency II did not directly address, such as the resolution of insurers and the capital treatment of insurers’ non-traditional and non-insurance activities.

These activities often involve the sale of products that may expose an insurer to risks not generally associated with traditional insurance business, such as liquidity risk.

“Although Solvency II is a step forward, there are policy areas that need further thought and development,” the report concluded.

Part Qualified Accountant studying ACCA / CIMA with insurance experience required by market leading City based insurance company.

Principle responsibilities

• To process the month end technical accounting. Bookkeeping of premiums, claims, IBNR, commissions, and reinsurance.
• To assist design, develop and build mechanisms or loading data into the general ledger, with relevant controls
• To prepare and analyse monthly technical account reconciliations (e.g. GL to core systems) for audit and SOX purposes
• To assist in the preparation of financial results for US GAAP reporting to parent company
• To use, update and modify (where required) the systems/analysis tools/spreadsheets to extract data from underwriting and financial systems for regulatory and compliance returns in accordance with the relevant regulatory timetables.
• To produce and maintain monthly audit files company financial results, balances and key reconciliations
• Assist in production of company and related entity GAAP financial results and annual report.
• To assist in ad-hoc reporting requirements & project work

 Knowledge, skills and experience

• Commercial common sense and understanding of the insurance business
• Advanced Excel / Database skills to be able to build spreadsheets and systems that can manage and manipulate large volumes of data efficiently (V Look ups, Pivot Tables)
• Ability to analyse and self- audit any data, returns, forms, including liaison with underwriting teams to verify data.
• Ability to understand the bigger picture and visualise the end-to-end process of transactions through to reporting analysis
• Good communication skills, ability to interact at all levels within the business and fellow practitioners
• Good project management, prioritisation of tasks and time keeping skills
• Some exposure or knowledge of Statutory and Regulatory reporting (PRA, SII / Solvency II, US GAAP)
• Preferably A level maths qualification and pursuing an accountancy qualification, studying ACCA or CIMA