Member Article

Brexit: Lloyd's of London confirms Brussels move as claims skyrocket in 2016

Lloyd’s of London has confirmed this morning (March 30) that it is to establish a new base in Brussels following the UK’s exit from the European Union, which will serve as its new EU base of operations.

Coming just a day after the Prime Minister, Theresa May, formally invoked Article 50 to begin divorce proceedings with the EU, the move will entail the relocation of around 100 jobs out of its London headquarters to the new Belgian subsidiary.

According to Lloyd’s, which is the world’s biggest insurance market, the new EU base will be operational by January 2019, just in time for the UK’s expected formal departure from the EU following two years’ of negotiations.

Reports say that Luxembourg, Malta and Dublin had all been considered as potential bases for the new subsidiary, which joins other Lloyd’s international outposts in Dubai, Hong Kong and New York.

Today’s announcement was included in the insurer’s market’s annual results, which also revealed that pretax profits at Lloyd’s remained at £2.1bn for 2016 despite what it described as ‘extremely challenging’ conditions in the last 12 months, with claims for the year their fifth highest since the turn of the century.

Major weather events such as Hurricane Matthew and the Fort McMurray wildfire in Canada were highlighted as two of the primary reasons why claims on the market swelled to £2.1bn from £0.7bn in 2015.

Chief Executive, Inga Beale, said it had been a ‘year of challenge’ for the sector as a whole, and that Lloyd’s must continue to support the market to resist downward pressures.

She said: “It is vital that the Corporation does everything it can to support the market and make the platform attractive, whilst demonstrating value for money.

“Our collective focus must be on providing customers with the products they want, embracing innovation and modernisation. The market has shown how well it reacts to the demands of its customers in a rapidly changing risk environment with the considerable increase in cyber coverage throughout 2016 a perfect case in point.

“It is critical throughout 2017 we continue to demonstrate that Lloyd’s is the home for creativity and expertise.”