Lloyd’s of London Unveils Strategy for Future Growth, Asserts Itself to Brokers

Lloyd's is turning the calendar ahead to the year 2025 in a high-profile effort to re-emphasize its goals for growth in the specialty insurance and reinsurance marketplaces.

On May 11, Lloyd's unveiled its “Vision 2025” strategy in its famous underwriting room at an event attended by Prime Minister David Cameron.

Lloyd's Chairman John Nelson says the corporation sees long-term growth opportunities in emerging markets through an expanding network of brokers.

Additionally, Lloyd's will not be “all things to all people,” Hank Watkins, chief executive officer of Lloyd's North America, tells NU—adding that “We want to grow where we can get a fair return.”

Or, as stated in Vision 2025, Lloyd's will be a “risk selector rather than a capital provider to a commoditized market.”

The goals aren't as revolutionary as they are evolutionary, says Watkins.

“We're not changing—just being proactive,” he says. Lloyd's isn't breaking new philosophical ground in the business of insurance, he explains. Rather, the Lloyd's market seeks to establish its well-known brand as something more than a taker of headline-grabbing “nutty risks” such as the body parts of movie stars and athletes.

“Access to Lloyd's is not always understood by brokers,” and the market is too often passed up because of a misperception of Lloyd's being too complicated, says Watkins, who has been tapping the press, updating the Lloyd's Web site and speaking at universities to spread the word about the specialist insurance market.

The United States is Lloyd's largest market. Nelson says that situation is likely to remain, and “as U.S. [GDP] grows, so should our business.”

The extent to which Lloyd's U.S. remains the largest market could “drop a few ticks” as premiums from emerging countries such as Brazil, China and India increase, adds Watkins.

Lloyd's will be a broker market in 2025, says Nelson, who hopes “to see a situation where brokers are extending their networks, picking up new business across the world and placing it at Lloyd's.” Efficient technology use will optimize each stage from underwriting to paying a claim, he adds.