Looking ahead to 2012

It was very gratifying to see so many market practitioners in attendance, especially given that our primary aim is to assist underwriters and brokers in enhancing the quality and quantity of their UK portfolios. 

You can access the presentation here but below are some key bullet points from the slides:

    - The UK commercial P&C market is worth £46bn across personal and commercial lines, with three-quarters of this business transacted outside of the London market.

    - The Lloyd's market is already the fourth largest UK commercial lines writer, but with just 7% of market share there is considerable potential for growth, in profitable classes naturally!

    - With 80% of UK commercial insurance passing through the hands of brokers, according to estimates from the Association of British Insurers, Lloyd's reliance on brokers needn't be an impediment to growth in the sector.

    - The regional small and medium enterprise (SME) sector, which has a 50% share of the UK commercial lines market, represents a particular opportunity for Lloyd's, and our footprint among the UK SME market appears to be light.

    - The presentation cited the views of various insurance intermediaries in the UK market to demonstrate how Lloyd's is commonly perceived. The overall conclusions suggest that Lloyd's can do more to attract business from MGAs and non-Lloyd's brokers from regional UK.

    - With MGAs in mind Lloyd's has been instrumental in the launch of the Managing General Agents' Association (MGAA) in September 2011 and we will continue to take a proactive role in its development. Working with the MGAA we will continue to explore opportunities to improve links with coverholders and next year both Lloyd’s and the MGAA will be hosting a range of events which will provide networking opportunities for the Lloyd’s market and the MGA communities to come together.

    - The MGAA has 42 full founding members with combined gross written premium of £1.25bn. It has already secured an official contact at the Financial Services Authority to ensure that the managing general agency sector has a voice.

    - Lloyd’s UK development activities also include a number of regional broker events and road-show events.  We are also seeking to make Lloyd's more attractive for scheme/affinity/SME business via the coverholder/service company channels.  Of course our overall aim is to attract more profitable UK regional business into the Lloyd's market via coverholders, service companies, Lloyd's brokers and non-Lloyd's brokers.

The events programme for next year is as follows:

28 February: UK Regional Broker Programme (1):London

Late April: Regional Event / Road Show: Midlands (TBC)

16 May: BIBA Conference: Manchester - Lloyd’s Stand / Workshop

12 June: Airmic Conference: Liverpool  - Lloyd’s Stand / Workshop

13 September: Broker Expo South: Ascot - Lloyd’s Stand

19 September:UK regional broker programme (2): London

08 November: Broker Expo North: Coventry - Lloyd’s Stand

If you would like to learn more about these events, drop me an email at keith.stern@lloyds.com and I'd be happy to advise how you can participate and what you can expect from these opportunities.

We've adopted a more strategic approach to organising events, using interview-based research we conducted earlier this year, the idea being that we bring the right people into Lloyd’s and invite the right people to our events/stands/presentations when we are 'on the road'. UK events information can be found here.

I’d like to take this opportunity of thanking the market (Lloyd’s brokers, coverholders and underwriters alike) for your enthusiastic response to breathing new life into our UK book of business (in a particularly challenging environment) and here’s hoping that we continue to strive forward in 2012 in our own back yard as well as internationally of course.