UK insurers face European market hiring challenge following Brexit

Bringing in new talent is a priority on Verlingue’s agenda for 2024 – in and outside of the UK.

However, the company has “faced a challenge” in organising the appropriate permissions for talent moving across countries, according to Mike Latham, chief executive officer of Verlingue.

In the aftermath of the 2016 European Union referendum, the UK government devised plans to revise work and student visa regulations, impacting both EU and non-EU immigration. The alterations introduced at the close of 2020 were labelled as the new points-based immigration system.

The ‘new’ system closely resembles the framework applied to non-EU migrants before Brexit, emphasising employer sponsorship and retaining most existing visa categories with some modifications.

However, the simultaneous termination of freedom of movement from the European Union and the implementation of the new system marked the first occasion in decades where EU citizens found themselves subject to the visa regime in the UK.

This development has posed a significant challenge for UK insurance firms aiming to hire individuals in the European market.

Speaking exclusively to Insurance Times, Latham explained: “We needed to obtain a sponsor licence to enable us to employ someone from, for example, France.

“The candidate then has to follow the visa application process. As you can imagine, these processes are often lengthy and don’t always suit our entrepreneurial style.”

Nevertheless, he highlighted that Verlingue’s London Market unit, formerly known as NBJ London Markets until its rebranding last year (6 November 2023), was actively working to enhance the accessibility of the London market for European colleagues.

Europe

Latham explained that the rebrand was completed in a bid to align its London market businesses with the European market.

He continued to explain that Verlingue is a “significant brand across Europe – we are in Portugal, we are in Switzerland, and we are in Italy”.

He added: “We wanted those organisations or those parts of the group to be aware that we will then under market broker as it stands at the moment.

“Access to the Verlingue companies across Europe is exciting and, from Verlingue’s point of view, they need a trusted partner in London.”

“They deal with a number of brokers currently, but they do not have a consolidation or a relationship.”

“The approach that we are taking with our books is saying ’look, do more with us’. Trust is more than we can give and they will feel the benefit of that service.”