Careers in Risk and Wealth Management

Careers in Risk and Wealth Management

Mariona Solé – CII

Gordon Vater - RiiG

CII?

• World’s largest professional body for risk,

insurance – and financial planning

• 120,000+ members in 150+ countries

• CII includes the PFS – the UK’s largest body for

financial advisers (aka wealth managers)

• Thousands of employer links

Some risks from 2015/16

Or, put another way

• Insurance is about

• Risk transfer

• Peace of mind

• Social value

• Work-life balance

• 250,000 workforce in the UK

• £2 trillion invested from insurance sector

London – #1 finance centre

Risk is everywhere

• Across the UK

• Cities and towns

• Across the world

• Europe

• Middle East

• North America

• Central and South America

• Africa

• Asia

• Broker

• The link between client and insurer

• Negotiates with underwriter for best deal for client

• Underwriter

• Negotiates with broker to accept or reject a risk

• Determines the price and conditions of a risk

• Loss adjuster

• Understand what/why has happened post-event

• Works with insurers to accelerate

the compensation process

Client-facing roles include

• Actuary

• Data and trend analysis to predict future

• Works with underwriters to price a risk

• Claims

• Resolves claim in line with a contract

• Claims may last from days to years

Back-office roles include

Back-office roles include

• Risk/Catastrophe modeller

• Uses historical data to build models around climate change

• Also relates to political risk and linked areas

• Business support roles

• HR

• Marketing

• IT

• Finance

Careers in financial planning

and wealth management

Gordon Vater, ACII – CEO

RiiG Limited

London normally pays most

• Starting salaries £23-30k

• Five years’ experience £30-60k

• Ten years’ experience with ACII £60-100k+

Strong study support and career development

Strong work-life balance – even in London

Many global opportunities

Salaries

• Any degree

• Strong communication

• Strong problem-solving

• Strong analysis

• Attention to detail

• Work experience an advantage

• Languages may help in London Market

• It’s not about numbers (bar actuarial)

Employer expectations

Graduate qualifications

• Grad schemes usually include the CII Advanced Diploma in Insurance (ACII)

• Takes 2-3 years to complete

• Covers law, management, broking, claims, underwriting, risk management, marketing...

• ACII is globally-recognised – a second passport

• Chartered status is the pinnacle

• From top 20 Fortune 500 to microbusinesses

• Thousands of brokers, hundreds of insurers

• Many London Market employers are SMEs

• Discover Risk website for more links

Employer size

Graduate recruiters include

Financial advice and planning

What is financial planning?

• The process of helping people and companies

secure their financial future, over many years

• Entrepreneurial – many SMEs

• Rewarding, in every sense

• Key to improving the UK’s financial capability

Who needs financial planning?

• Everyone, for different reasons, eg:

• Premier League footballer – short career,

little (financial) knowledge, large wealth

• CEO – time-poor, asset-rich

• Pensioner – limited resources, no earnings

The financial planning process

The financial planning process

• It is an iterative process

• Long-term client retention

Specialist

• Financial planner/adviser – client-facing

• Wealth manager – client-facing

• Paraplanner – back office, research

• Compliance technician – back office

General

• Marketing, IT, Finance, Administrator

Varied areas

Again, London normally pays most

This is a journey so check the destination

• Starting salaries £15-25k

• 3-5 years’ experience £25-75k

• CII-qualified with experience £50-100k+

• There are millionaires...

Salaries

Qualifications

Licence to practise area

• CII Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning (Dip

PFS) – the minimum requirement

• Covers tax, trusts, pensions, regulation,

investment, protection

• Chartered Financial Planner

• Communication

• Negotiation

• Analysis

• Problem-solving

• Relationship building – clients, other professions

• NB high-level mathematical skills are not key

Skills

Graduate recruiters include

Graduate schemes and

placements

Risk

• Most graduate schemes open in September

• Most close by year end

• Most internships and placements as above

• However, there are some graduate roles advertised at other times eg NFU, TMK

• Check the Discover Risk website for updates on internships and graduate schemes

Financial planning

• More SMEs so companies offer only one or two graduate positions

• Opportunities appear year-round

• Increase in internships

• The Discover Risk website will have updates

Graduates in the following areas gain credits

• Accounting Actuarial

• Business Economics

• Finance Law

• Management Marketing

• Mathematics Statistics

• Recruitment based on soft skills more than

subject studied

Exemptions

• Get a Linkedin account

• Read the general press

• Read the trade press (Post/FT Adviser)

• Check, check, check CV

• Get work experience before graduation

• Use careers service

• Non-graduate scheme roles

• Discover membership

Remember…

• FREE

• Access to key market data

• Access to local network events and vidcasts

• Speakers from BA, Swiss Re, Crossrail etc

• Soft copies of member communications

• Affinity benefits to membership

Discover membership

• Great professions with wide range of roles

• Very robust

• Great opportunities to progress (and travel)

quickly

In summary

www.discoverrisk.co.uk

www.thepfs.org

[email protected]

www.twitter.com/discrisk

www.facebook.com/discoverriskFB