Brexit not yet a major issue for TMR UK

In the aftermath of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union (EU) Tokio Millennium Re’s (TMR) UK branch is in a position to watch things with more equanimity than others.

Mark Julian, head of the UK branch, said that one of the benefits the company has is that the majority of its continental European business is written out of its office in Zurich, Switzerland.

Julian pointed out that although many feel London would have no problems eventually continuing as before, there are worries among UK companies about what the exact form of the eventual split from the EU will look like.

“There are quite a few firms in London concerned about exactly how they will continue to write their Continental European business, how will it work, and what kind of agreements will be made in the next couple of years,” he told Monte Carlo Today.

“However, TMR is in a good position because whatever happens, Zurich writes most of our Continental European business.”

He added that the real question will be what happens in the next couple of years. “Over those two-odd years the UK government and the EU will be hashing out what the agreements will be for the exact nature of the UK’s leaving the EU.

“There’s already been a huge diversity of opinion on both sides of the argument on Brexit about what kind of access to the free market will be available afterwards.”

Julian added that one of the main issues for TMR’s UK branch was that out of the 60 people in the office, 12 are European, bringing unique skillsets of young reinsurance professional talent from all over the Continent.

He pointed out that while the two-year time frame for negotiations might sound like a long time, clarity was required in order for TMR to be able to plan in more detail over the medium to long term.