Lloyd's strengthens Dutch ties

Lloyd’s links to the Netherlands stretch back hundreds of years: The Chairman of the first Society of Lloyd’s and the man credited with taking Lloyd’s from the Coffee Shop to the modern era, Martin van Meirop, was a Dutch trader based in London. Around the same time, England and Holland were both considered seafaring powers. And Lloyd’s famous Lutine Bell, which hangs in the Underwriting Room and for more than one-hundred years was rung once for a loss and twice for the successful arrival of a ship in port, came from a vessel which sank just off the Dutch coast.

The Netherlands has even more historic links to insurance in general. When Lloyd’s was founded in 1688, the trading of risk was already taking place on the canal side of Amsterdam, having been first established in Rotterdam in the early 17th Century.

Lloyd’s itself began operating in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1800s and, in the years since, Holland has grown to become Lloyd’s tenth-largest market worldwide in 2009, with written premium amounting to EUR277m. Excluding the UK, the Netherlands is Lloyd’s fourth-largest market in Europe today.

Now, Lloyd’s is further strengthening its ties in the region, with the opening of a new office in Rotterdam.

The office will cover the whole of the Benelux region for Lloyd’s and will be led by Ralph van Helden, Lloyd’s Regional Manager for Benelux.

Speaking at the opening of the office last week, Lloyd’s Chairman Lord Levene said: “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 businesses – large and small – are facing more complex risks, more risk to their supply chains and more technological risks such as cyber crime. That will make their insurance needs more specialised and more international – and Lloyd’s already exemplifies both of these features.”

Following the opening, a delegation of more than 75 property specialists from a Netherlands-based insurance association – COBRA - headed to the Lloyd’s building in London to receive a keynote address from Lloyd’s CEO Richard Ward on how to place business at Lloyd’s.

They also received a tour of One Lime Street, and met members of the market.

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