Job Title: Insurance Solutions Expert (Contract)
Corporate Title (equivalent): Executive Director
Location: London
ReachX is looking for a London-based advisor to join a leading Investment Bank’s Insurance Solutions team for a contract period of 9 months.
The team provides financing and capital solutions to insurance companies.
Department Overview:
This role is part of a team within a broader Client Financing and Solutions business, operating within the investment banking division. The team, focused on Insurance Solutions, provides financing and capital solutions to help insurance companies and their owners efficiently pursue their business objectives. Transactions are typically bespoke to the client's needs and are executed using the firm's balance sheet.
Solutions often involve:
- Financing solutions: Structured financing, including lending against insurance-linked assets like acquisition term loans and bridge loans.
- Capital solutions: Solutions provided at the insurance company level aiming for a capital benefit. These often involve taking on elements of the counterparty's tail-risk exposures (including liability-side actuarial risks and market risks). These solutions can be delivered via structures such as loans, reinsurance, and derivatives.
- Lloyds of London: Providing corporate member financing and capital solutions in the form of loans or Tier 1 capital.
-
Successful execution requires a strong understanding of regulatory, accounting, and actuarial considerations on the insurance company's side, as well as of the underlying risks being assumed in the transaction.
Role Description:
The contract involves working with the team in the origination and execution of transactions. Key responsibilities include:
- Production of supporting materials for the business, such as client marketing presentations and internal materials like committee memos and transaction presentations.
- Project management of transactions, including working with internal stakeholders (structuring, trading, risk, legal, compliance) to manage internal processes and external stakeholders (clients, lawyers, actuarial consultants) to manage execution.
- Structuring of transactions, involving credit analysis, due diligence review, internal credit approval processes, and the development or review of transaction documentation (e.g., term sheets, legal documentation).
- Working with senior team members to maintain and develop client relationships for origination and syndication. Ideally, the contractor would manage a portfolio of clients.
- Researching client, market, and regulatory developments.
- Development of new insurance solutions structures.
Key Objectives Critical to Success:
- Being an independent thinker with keen attention to detail and a willingness to question.
- Possessing the proven ability to learn and understand new concepts.
- Demonstrating teamwork experience in a transaction-driven environment with tight deadlines.
- Having strong communication skills (written and verbal) and the ability to interact confidently with banking professionals and clients.
- Exhibiting strong analytical skills and numerical abilities, including good financial modelling skills.
- The ability to work well with a diverse group of stakeholders (clients, lawyers, consultants, actuaries, structurers, trading, and other functions) to bring a transaction to execution.
Skills, Experience, Qualifications, and Knowledge Required:
While candidates will be judged based on a combination of aptitudes, skills, and experience, the following are considered positive factors. Candidates are expected to possess several of these:
- A good understanding of key insurance concepts, including knowledge of assets and liabilities on insurance company balance sheets, key risk drivers, regulatory capital frameworks (particularly Solvency II and Bermuda Solvency Capital requirements), and insurance accounting rules.
- Experience with:
- Working on private debt/M&A financing and/or reinsurance transactions.
- Marketing financing/capital solutions to clients.
- Providing advice on capital management and risk management issues to insurance companies.
- Working on ALM solutions with insurance clients.
- Excel modeling, including building cash flow models for transactions (actuarial modelling skills are helpful but not essential).
- Proven client relationships among Financial Sponsors, Insurers, or Pension Companies.
- Knowledge of standard European and Bermuda insurance product types, with knowledge outside of the UK product set being an advantage.