Insurtech Talent Development in Hong Kong – From Insurance to Insurtech: Strategies for Building a Sustainable Talent Pipeline

36 From Insurance to Insurtech: Strategies for Building a Sustainable Talent Pipeline Observations of the Insurtech Talent Landscapes and Strategies of the United Kingdom and Singapore It is important for Hong Kong to understand the talent landscapes of other financial centers in order to devise the best talent strategy for the city’s insurtech sector to flourish. Therefore, we selected two insurance hubs in addition to Hong Kong, namely the UK and Singapore, for our study. Our observations are presented below. The United Kingdom Insurers in the UK are competing with several other industries for digital and analytics talent.72 As insurtech gains traction in the country, a greater need exists for employees who are equipped not only with appropriate technology skills, but also have strong capabilities in other areas such as claims and actuarial roles, underwriting and frontline sales.73 Many insurers in the UK cannot find the talent they need.74 A big challenge is that the millennials who have worked both within and outside the insurance industry do not have a very positive perception about the culture of insurance companies. In general, they think the industry is stuffy and lacks vibrance. Insurers in the UK need to work on correcting this image and all other perception problems if they want to make headway on hiring and retaining the right talent for their growth and productivity. One way to achieve this is to highlight some interesting and stimulating insurance opportunities in digital technology and analytics. This could help redefine the image of insurers, particularly among younger potential employees. Research conducted by McKinsey and Company in 2020 revealed that only 30% of the insurance employees in the UK possess skills in at least one of the six digital and analytics areas that might be considered important for the further advancement of insurtech. Research findings from this study have also identified an urgent and immediate need for the UK insurers to strategize in recruiting tech talent, reskilling their current employees, integrating new capabilities and developing a culture to sustain a talent pipeline for insurtech.75 In general, the UK insurance industry faces many challenges in attracting and retaining tech talent for its growth and innovative endeavors. Digital and analytics skills required by the insurtech industry in the UK have been grouped into six categories: digital leadership, application design, application development, data and analytics, IT infrastructure and deployment, and information security.76 Specific skills in each category are shown in Exhibit 18. 72 McKinsey & Company (2020, June). Infusing tech talent into the UK insurance industry . https://www.mckinsey.com/ industries/financial-services/our-insights/insurance-blog/infusing-tech-talent-into-the-uk-insurance-industry 73 Ibid. 74 Manpower Group (2019, May). The Future of Insurance Recruitment . https://www.manpowergroup.co.uk/wp-content/ uploads/2019/05/MPG-The-Future-of-Insurance-Recruitment-Whitepaper-Web.pdf 75 McKinsey & Company (2020, June). Infusing tech talent into the UK insurance industry . https://www.mckinsey.com/ industries/financial-services/our-insights/insurance-blog/infusing-tech-talent-into-the-uk-insurance-industry 76 Ibid.