Lloyd’s Chairman, Lord Levene, was in Japan and South Korea last week where he opened the new Lloyd’s Japan office and hosted an event with Korean Re, Lloyd’s – A Working Partnership.
The visit started in Japan with the official opening of the new Lloyd’s office in Tokyo.
Japan is Lloyd’s eighth largest market and the more traditional classes of business, as well as a range of specialist covers, being the primary business written.
“Lloyd’s is not new to Japan,” said Lord Levene, “We have been issuing insurance policies in Japan since 1868. Through the years we have helped our customers and the market cope with a variety of earthquakes, windstorms and other challenging events.”
The Japanese market is a stable and profitable insurance market that makes it attractive to managing agents wanting to diversify their portfolios geographically.
Speaking at the British Chamber of Commerce on the theme of ‘Fresh Challenges for the City of London’, Lord Levene compared Japan and London as “veteran players” in the league of world finance who face similar challenges as mature economies.
One of the key themes in the speech was how London faired in the financial crisis. He warned Asia to learn from Europe’s mistakes: “As it has an opportunity to examine those closely and to learn, not just from Europe’s successes, but also from its failures, which are always the areas where the individual member states find it hard to reach agreement.”
He concluded by saying: “We are committed to this market; one of the great global insurance markets.”
Journeying to South Korea, Lord Levene continued meeting key insurance figures and local media, as well as speaking at two events, one of which was a Lloyd’s co-hosted a conference with Korean Re titled, ‘Lloyd’s – A Working Partnership’. The conference aimed to raise the awareness of Lloyd’s in Korea and build on its relationship with Korean Re.
Korea is an important market for Lloyd’s. It has a long history of writing reinsurance business from Korean insurers and reinsurers, supporting them on large and complex risks mainly from London, but also writing Korean risks from Lloyd’s Asia and Hong Kong.
But new talent is needed to ensure a strong future and the Chairman concluded his trip by speaking to students at Yonsei University about the global economy in 2010, with a focus on the Korean Presidency of the G20. He said that Korea’s Presidency could not have come at a more important time as it ‘has shown leadership in looking for the opportunity in this [financial] crisis’.
“I see the re-emergence of the Asian economies as an opportunity…I foresee the Lloyd’s insurance market working ever more closely and in partnership with more Asian companies in helping them manage their risks,” Lord Levene concluded.
