Glaswegian underwriting is overheating

If commercial underwriting is your chosen vocation, you are in luck.

Scotland is experiencing a boom in demand for underwriters as businesses

rush to insure themselves against an increasingly risky world.

The latest snapshot of the insurance sector by recruitment group Joslin Rowe

suggests the bulk of the new jobs are emerging in Glasgow rather than in

Edinburgh, Scotland's capital and traditional financial heartland.

Why is Glasgow on top? Gillian Wilson, senior consultant at recruitment firm Joslin Rowe, says it's partly down to rents, which are cheaper in the city. "However, in other instances it is down to the traditional make-up of that marketplace," she adds. "Glasgow has always been more call centre orientated than Edinburgh, which suits the insurance call centre firms plus more brokers are based in Glasgow and recruiting heavily for roles."

Glasgow's commerical insurance market is led by construction and real

estate, but the city's vibrant club scene has also contributed to an

increase in commercial underwriting as nightclubs seek to insure against risks to their clientele.

Until recently, commissions for liability risks underwriting were split with

London wholesalers, but now such work is almost entirely covered within the

much expanded local market. As a result, a raft of insurance start-ups have

contributed to the city's fast expanding local economy.

The bad news is that pay isn't increasing apace with jobs. Wilson says

salaries in the sector have enjoyed only "minimal increments" over the last

year as headcount has shrunk on the back of a raft of mergers between small

brokers.

Wilson said: "A typical underwriter in Glasgow would earn 18,000 - 25,000 for

personal lines and 20,000- 30,000 for commercial lines."