Lloyd's is second largest domestic reinsurer in Brazil

One year on from its launch there, Lloyd’s is now the second-largest reinsurer in the Brazilian domestic market - with 9% share of total business - behind former monopoly reinsurer IRB.

Speaking at a lunch organised by the British Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Brazil, Marco Antonio de Simas Castro, chief executive of Lloyd's Brazil, said Lloyd’s accounted for US$187m of the US$2bn of business negotiated in the country last year.

He said the oil and gas sector will continue to be the driver for reinsurance business in the region. “Businesses involved with oil must not only generate reinsurance for platforms and other operational units, but also for the shipyards building the ships to meet the expected increase in production in pre-salt areas,” he said.

Asked whether the government's intention to sell its shares in IRB could signal a return towards a monopoly, Castro said he did not consider this to be the case: "It's really an attempt to keep the large and important share of the market that the IRB has today. It is also a way to get IRB more dynamic and better prepared to compete with international groups.”