Lloyd’s of London, the world’s oldest insurer of seafaring vessels, is facing its own perfect storm.
Old-fashioned business practices, exposure to natural disasters, competition from rival centers and Brexit are all threatening Lloyd’s reputation as the place to insure anything from ships to sculptures to soccer stars’ legs.
Stung by combined losses of 3 billion pounds ($3.9 billion) over the last two years, John Neal, the new chief executive of an insurance market founded in a London coffee house in 1688, is under growing pressure to drag Lloyd’s into the 21st century.
Following a six-month review, Neal will unveil a new strategy next week expected to include a push to automate arcane processes, a shift away from risky catastrophe insurance, a hard look at the middlemen who drive up the cost of doing business at Lloyd’s and ways to attract new sources of capital.
It is also looking to improve inclusion at a time when the culture at Lloyd’s is in the spotlight following a report by Bloomberg News about sexual harassment and day-time drinking.
But in a market where shipwrecks are still recorded by some insurers with a quill and paperwork is lugged around Lloyd’s futuristic 14-story building in slipcases, some brokers and underwriters are resisting innovation....MORE
“Lloyd’s has to change, it’s like an old man dancing – a bit awkward and embarrassing,” said one insurance company chief executive, who declined to be named. “We do not have a great track record in modernisation.”....
The referenced Bloomberg Businessweek story was the very extensive March 21 "The Old Daytime-Drinking, Sexual-Harassing Ways Are Thriving at Lloyd’s".
