Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure to welcome you to today’s lunch to mark the opening of a Lloyd’s office for the Benelux region, based here in Rotterdam.
I am sorry that limited space made it impossible for many of you to witness the actual ribbon cutting ceremony, but you are undoubtedly here for the best part – lunch.
We are opening an office here because Benelux, and in particular the Netherlands, is a strong vibrant insurance market. In many ways, the Dutch market bears more similarities to the UK market than any other European country.
Like in London, there are a lot of brokers here and we think that you can benefit from Lloyd’s because we too are a brokers market.
Of course whilst Lloyd’s – I hasten to say – derives enormous benefits from this, it can make our distribution model harder to understand. Lloyd’s is a market. It doesn’t have a traditional sales force. We work with brokers who bring business into the market, finding the best policy for their clients from the many underwriters trading there.
At the moment, we are working to extend our distribution model in Europe by identifying new brokers and coverholders and explaining how they can access the market for either direct insurance or reinsurance. And we are also looking for ways to make life easier for our existing brokers and coverholders.
Once brokers have spent a small amount of time sorting out the paperwork which enables them to access the market, they find that Lloyd’s possesses certain distinct advantages. We are highly secure, maintaining A+ ratings throughout the financial crisis. We are highly international, working in over 200 countries and with licences to trade in 80. And we are highly skilled, famously able to offer a price for risks as diverse as a Dutch coffee taster’s nose and a Gulf of Mexico oil rig.
But traditionally, we have done less business in Europe than in other parts of the world. But I think that globalisation will end that, because European small businesses, as well as the large ones, are trading internationally. They are facing more complex risks, to their supply chains, but also from complex technological risks such as cyber threats. I believe that insurance will become more specialised and more international. And Lloyds already exemplifies both of these features.
Of course, we have been active in the Netherlands for centuries. The first Lloyd’s agency to be appointed in Europe was here in 1818 and I was intrigued to discover that the shop front of the first Lloyd’s building -which was a 17th century coffee house in the City of London -was manufactured in Middelberg here in Holland in 1663.
Our Dutch shop front ended up being exhibited across the world for over forty years where it was seen by over 50 million people. In 1969, a mere three hundred years after it was produced, it managed to win a prestigious architectural award in Chicago - a city which probably wasn’t even a stake in the ground when the window first cast light onto the deliberations of shipowners in Lloyd’s Coffee House.
The moral of this story is very clear to me. Dutch Industry helps Lloyd’s to see matters more clearly and also that, if you get involved with us, we will look after your interests all over the world, and will aim to keep you with us for 300 years or so!
There is a very large measure of satisfaction for me in opening this office because the first man to chair the Society of Lloyd’s was in fact a Dutchman, Mr Martin Van Mierop. He was the man who took Lloyd’s out of its coffee house and into permanent offices.
However, whilst I was delighted to learn that I would be able to return the favour and finally open an office in the Netherlands, I was slightly perturbed to learn that Van Mierop in fact died before Lloyd’s moved triumphantly into the offices which he had found for them in the Royal Exchange. So, in more ways than one, I am relieved that I have managed to cut the ribbon and declare the Lloyd’s office open!
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you for coming today. I know that our new Lloyd’s representative, Mr Ralph Van Helden is keen to work with you all and find out how Lloyd’s can work with you in the future.
