1 October 2010 Insurance

Lloyd's considering Moscow office

Lloyd’s chairman Lord Levene has revealed that the market is “actively considering” creating a presence in Russia.

Levene said he had led a visit to Moscow in the last few weeks and added that the “mood music is very favourable”. Although, while he was very impressed by the development he had seen in St Petersburg and Moscow, he remains cautious.

“We might open a branch office there. I was pleasantly surprised with what the possibilities might be in time. We are looking into the opportunity quite actively.”

However, he cited the clamour for Lloyd’s to set up an office in the Arabian Gulf as a potential comparison, saying that the demand for companies in the market had since “calmed down”.

Yet other comparison might also be seen in China and Brazil, where Lloyd’s had “started to see good progress”.

“We try to develop markets, and if any individual company within Lloyd’s wants to develop a market, the fact that we can spread the cost around the businesses makes it more affordable for them,” the Lloyd’s chairman said.

Levene said there were positive signs emerging from the US regulators who “now seem to agree with us on many aspects”.

In reference to insurance regulatory reform and the recent Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, he said: “It is good progress, but I started on this path eight years ago, speaking to regulators, and the progress has been glacial.

“The NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners) itself has made some helpful statements, which is a good step forward.

"We have been contributing to the debate for as long as I can remember and we will continue to do so.”

On underwriting discipline, he said Lloyd’s franchises will write less business if that is what is needed. “What other people do is their business.”

Levene who is approaching his final year as Lloyd’s chairman would not speculate over his replacement, but said the queue of people hoping to take the role would be “far longer” than when he was appointed in November 2002. “Becoming the leader of a successful business is an attractive proposition,” he concluded.

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