Top talent being ‘swallowed up’ through M&A causing recruitment challenges

Top talent being “swallowed up” through mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are contributing to recruitment issues across the insurance industry.

That was according to Tom Florence, managing director of Pollensa Insurance Services, who said that recruitment within the sector was going through a “challenging time”.

Florence made the comments during Insurance Times’ latest webinar with Markel, where he said there were multiple reasons for firms facing difficulties over bringing in talent.

He felt M&A was among those reasons, with the number of deals being struck in the UK and Ireland continuing to grow.

According to the 2023 FTI Consulting European Insurance M&A Barometer Report, published in March 2024, there was a 31% year-on-year increase in the number of deals completed in this jurisdiction.

The report found that there were around 232 deals announced in the UK and Irish markets over the course of 2023, up from 177 a year earlier.

“[A] challenge right now is recruitment,” he said.

“It is quite a challenging time right now for multiple reasons, but some of them will be that generally, through all the M&A that is going on in the market, some top talent are being swallowed up and they can potentially be quite difficult to prize away.”

Young talent

Florence also highlighted that there should be more young talent coming into the sector.

Back in April 2023, a Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) survey revealed that 60% of participants found the insurance industry “boring” and only 30% would consider it as a career.

The findings were based on a survey of 50 participants between the ages of 14-22.

“With regards to younger generations coming into the insurance sector, there are some challenges right now,” Florence said.

“It is not to say that people are not coming through, but I think there could and should be more.”

Education piece

Over the last year, work has been done to try and bring in new talent to the industry.

For example, the CII’s New Generation Programme launched its Insurance Influencer campaign in October 2023 to address the industry’s talent gap.

And in August 2023, Davies said it was partnering with Ucas to reach ”millions of young people looking for post-secondary school education opportunities and introduce them to the insurance and financial services world of work”.

However, Jo Sykes, divisional director of the UK broker channel for Markel, said that more needed to be done across the industry to attract more young talent.

“I do think there’s more work to do to attract people to the industry,” she said.

“It’s a fantastic industry with so many varied roles that are available to people, but it’s about that education piece and helping people understand that it can be a really long and successful career if you choose that path.”