U.K. Government Pressures Lloyd's To Drop Burma Ties

Lloyd's will not comment on a letter it received from the British government criticizing its involvement with the government of Burma, a spokesman for the market said today.

Chris Gatland confirmed that Lloyd's had received a letter from the Foreign Office, but said there would be no comment on its contents "or the contents of a letter we sent to the market."

Lloyd's has been under attack by the London-based Burma Campaign UK for providing financial support for entities operated by the Mynamar government, which it describes as a "brutal dictatorship."

The Burma Campaign said the letter to Lloyd expressed disapproval of the marketplace's links to the Burmese military junta.

According to Burma Campaign, in 2003 British American Tobacco pulled out of Burma after receiving similar requests from the British government and Premier Oil eventually pulled out of Burma in 2002 after coming under pressure from the Foreign Office.

While Lloyd's would not detail its response to the Foreign Office letter, Burma Campaign said Lloyd's chairman, Lord Levene, had reportedly written to all managing agents "urging them to consider" the involvement with Burma's regime.

Burma Campaign said Lloyd's has refused to admit the full extent of their involvement in Burma, failing to clarify if they are involved in sectors lucrative to the regime, such as oil, gas and mining.

Johnny Chatterton, Burma Campaign officer, said in a statement, "Lloyd's is breaking government guidelines and damaging their reputation. If they don't end their involvement in Burma soon they will be branded by Burma in the same way that Barclays was with Apartheid South Africa and Exxon are with climate change."

In August, when Burma Campaign put Lloyd's at the top of its "Dirty List" for dealing with the regime, Lloyd's put out a statement saying, "Unless there are official U.N. sanctions in place, Lloyd's does not instruct the market where it can and cannot write business."

A spokesperson said at that time that "a very small amount of reinsurance is written at Lloyd's in Burmese shipping and aviation. We are unaware of any businesses at Lloyd's defying international sanctions. If we discovered any underwriters breaching sanctions, we would take action immediately."