Why Lloyd’s Chose Brussels for Post-Brexit Outpost: CEO Beale

Lloyd’s of London remains on schedule to have its post-Brexit outpost ready for business beginning in January 2019, CEO Inga Beale confirmed at a recent meeting of U.S. regulators in Washington, D.C.

“We’re just working through the final regulatory aspects of getting approved,” Beale said, in response to a question during a panel discussion on May 14 at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) international meeting.

Beale, asked by moderator and NAIC President Julie McPeak to update how Lloyd’s is preparing for Brexit, also offered a window into its Brexit planning and why Brussels was the insurance marketplace’s choice for its European Union outpost. Lloyd’s first announced its decision in March 2017.

“There’s a good talent base available in Belgium,” Beale said. “Their regulators have a good reputation globally, and for Lloyd’s reputation, we thought it important to go somewhere where there is a robust regulatory regime and no question marks above the regulators.”

Lloyd’s, along with carriers and reinsurers whose European headquarters have traditionally been London, zeroed in on creating an EU subsidiary before Great Britain leaves the EU. To do so helps maintain uninterrupted customer care, and Beale said it was important that Lloyd’s readied its EU base earlier than most.

“We have 80 individual syndicates writing in Lloyd’s and need to move quicker to give them security,” Beale explained. “We have to plan. All the regulators [are] asking them individually for a contingency plan in a post-Brexit world, and we have to be the contingency plan for them.”

Beale said that a lot of Lloyd’s EU activity will still be outsourced or delegated to London, but a lot of syndicates will have a presence in EU countries to be closer to customers.

Other insurers have looked to Luxembourg for their post-Brexit subsidiaries, including AIG, CNA, FM Global and recently, Tokio Marine.

Topics Excess Surplus Europe London Lloyd's