Finance Manager Nordics

Role purpose:

The Country / Regional Finance Manager for the assigned Region is responsible, within the structure of EMEA's  centralised finance operating model, for:

• Local finance management and control on a Net-to-Region basis. 
• Drive and own Business partnering support for all areas of the business
• Ownership of producing quality financial analytics to support 

Day to Day interaction with the Business and with the Centralised Finance teams is critical to success in the role.

The main responsibilities to be managed include:

1. To support and drive the production of all Planning and Forecasting activity undertaken throughout the year (Annual Plan, 5 Year plan, at least 8 re-forecasts per year) for all products within the business covering Commercial and Consumer Divisions.

2. Management of all local finance related interactions and activities impacting the relevant Region/Cluster.

3. To have ownership of delivering and all reporting requirements across the Cluster / Region and assist in improving local managements' understanding of the key local reporting and analysis process. This includes: 

• Monthly analysis of Country and Line level P&L's and all aspects of the Country expense performance vs. Plan & Prior year on a Net to Region / management basis.

1. Own the relationship and work closely with staff in Credit Control and Operations to ensure that all bookings are up to date and that any debt / unallocated cash are speedily resolved. The Regional Reporting & Analysis Manager will need to be an active member of the BARM meetings and is responsible for all financial checks with regards to onboarding new partners and brokers.  The Regional Reporting & Analysis Manager will drive improvements as needed and is responsible for escalating issues on a timely basis. 

2. To support and drive across the Region local adherence to the EMEA Finance accounting, control & reconciliation frameworks. 

3. Support the Regional Finance Manager with the centralised statutory reporting and tax teams to deliver all local branch financial statutory / fiscal / audit requirements. This includes:

   • Understanding the local territory statutory, regulatory and tax regimes. Actively working to stay up to date on local requirements and communicating changes where appropriate. 

   • Liaising with the centralised statutory and tax teams to agree an appropriate split of responsibilities for delivery of local requirements.

   • Working with central finance to execute local audits, liaising with local auditors and assisting them in obtaining audit evidence from other local departments (claims, underwriting etc).

   • Assisting with the communication / explanation of local requirements / returns to affected stakeholders (e.g. Country President signing of local accounts).

   • Business Partner with local Legal & Compliance Manager + HR where applicable.

   • Ensuring timely communication & escalation of local financial & regulatory issues to the appropriate European Finance Leaders. 

   • Build and maintain close relationship with actuarial team for reserving and pricing. Ownership of ensuring all reserving activities and trends are well communicated and understood across all Lines of business.  Proactive engagement with the actuarial team is essential to ensure visibility of all expected reserving movements and impacts on future pricing and loss ratio predictions.

• Work as part of a CE MENA Regional Finance team sharing information / best practice across the CE Region 

• Support to Regional Finance Manager, Regional Executive Officer (REO) and Country Managers in respect of business cases, portfolio performance etc.

• Due to the nature of the role, a degree of travel will be expected.

Completion of Annual Production Planning and Quarterly Forecasting Processes for Commercial and Consumer businesses for the Cluster/Region. This will involve working with Line management to ensure that we have a robust set of numbers with supporting commentary. Ensure that movements are explained to the Country President and Commercial / Consumer Leaders, and communicated appropriately upwards, and numbers are presented and fully understood on a consolidated basis.

Liaise with the centralised Financial Planning and Analysis team on monthly expense reporting process for Cluster. This will require a good understanding of the Chubb expense reporting process and expense reporting tools, e.g. cost centres, expense QV, planning & forecasting process and detailed local analysis of the country expense spend. Be prepared to challenge unusual expense movements, and provide explanations as requested. Be prepared to analyse Local vs Regional spend. 

Liaise with local underwriting managers in Cluster/Region on Net to Region (NTR) Finance & P&L Reports to increase transparency and understanding of US GAAP Net to Region branch results. Assist in-depth understanding of results by segment, Broker analysis and submission analysis.

Be a key member of Local management team, providing support and advice on all local Finance related issues to the Country President. Produce Branch activity reports as required for Local Management.

To provide local support, guidance and oversight as required, on the centralised finance & operational activities managed by the teams in Glasgow as they impact on the Benelux branches. This includes developing a close working relationship with the US GAAP reporting, Balance Sheet & Control management, Operational Finance & Credit control teams, amongst others.

Provide Monthly Production estimates and supporting commentary as required. Complete production and commission commentary on a monthly basis for Cluster/Region Management of Cluster/Region Production Topside position which requires interaction with Underwriting, Operations and Credit Control teams locally.

To act as the local finance point of contact with local stakeholders, various agencies and service providers (e.g. CEG Underwriting & Operational management, Support Human resources, Claims, internal / external auditors, tax authorities, banks), ensuring that local issues are escalated to the appropriate teams  and are managed to resolution in the required timeframes.

Delivery of local finance compliance reports / activities as agreed as part of the partnership agreement referred to in (h) above. 

To act as the local finance point of contact with local stakeholders, various agencies and service providers (e.g. CEG Underwriting & Operational management, Support Human resources, Claims, internal / external auditors, tax authorities, banks), ensuring that local issues are escalated to the appropriate teams  and are managed to resolution in the required timeframes.

Provide support to Regional CE MENA Finance initiatives, which may involve taking the lead on certain Regional tasks.

ROLE REQUIREMENTS 

• Degree in Finance or Business Administration 

• 5 years of working experience in Finance in the insurance sector.

• Advanced proficiency in Excel and data manipulation.

• Excellent spreadsheet business presentational skills

• Good communication skills driven by regular interaction with the business and senior management.

• Team player – larger CE MENA Finance team. 

• Language skills – English, Other CE language/s an advantage.

• Some travel involved