Associate Director – Insurance – Life recruitment
Offering a world of knowledge and experience behind every opinion, we transform information to deliver meaning and utility to investors, issuers and other market participants. Fitch Ratings’ global expertise draws on local market knowledge and spans across the fixed-income universe. The additional context, perspective and insights we provide help investors make important credit judgments with confidence.
Fitch Solutions is committed to delivering value beyond the rating by providing a range of fixed-income products and professional development services to the global financial community. In addition to offering proprietary content, the firm also distributes the ratings, research, financial data and analytical tools of Fitch Ratings. With innovation and experience behind every product and service, Fitch Solutions' flexible offerings are designed to meet the diverse needs of the credit markets. Fitch Ratings and Fitch Solutions are part of the Fitch Group, a jointly-owned subsidiary of Fimalac, S.A. and Hearst Corporation.
The Fitch Ratings Insurance group provides ratings and research on insurance and insurance-related companies worldwide. Because of the increasing globalisation of insurance markets, the group coordinates all research and analysis through a global organisational structure, whose goal is to achieve consistency of rating methodology across countries.
In addition to ratings of insurance companies, the Fitch Ratings Insurance group also provides ratings of securitisations of insurance risk, including catastrophe bonds and life insurance securitisations. The insurance group combines timely, accurate and transparent coverage with responsive service to help market participants thoroughly assess their credit risk.
Fitch is looking for an Analyst, to be based in Paris, who will be responsible for the analysis and research of mainly French and Benelux based insurance companies, to provide Fitch rating reports, sector studies and topical market commentary.
You will report to the Team Leader, based in Paris, within the broader European insurance team which consists of analysts and support staff, based in London, Frankfurt and Moscow. Your research will include qualitative and quantitative aspects, including using a range of quantitative analytical tools and addressing strategic questions in the insurance industry.
You will travel as necessary (within France and Europe mainly) and conduct in-depth meetings with senior management at rated entities, establish a working relationship with relevant officials, update databases, write credit rating reports, present credits to a rating committee and prepare reports for publication, including press releases. You will also prepare supporting research. The role is outward-facing, involving liaison with issuers, investors and banks.
Candidates must be able to demonstrate experience of financial analytical work relating to life and/or non-life insurance companies and markets. It is important that the candidate should be able to work independently while also being a good team player and be able to cope with time pressure and deadlines.
Candidates must also have a strong educational background, preferably including a good degree (business school or university) together with relevant experience. This experience may have been gained in a range of roles, including working in a technical capacity within the insurance industry or working in a credit analytical position within a rating agency or a bank.
A background in the insurance sector in a specialist management or actuarial consultancy firm would also be viewed positively. The ability to conduct business fluently in French and English is essential, and a good knowledge of other European languages would be an advantage, although it is not a prerequisite. The successful candidate will have excellent written and oral communication skills.
Fitch is an equal-opportunity employer that employs people across the full spectrum of society. Fitch works hard to create a workplace with an emphasis on inclusion, innovation and merit. By valuing diversity and equality in our workplace, we believe we add strength to our business.