Lloyd’s from East to West
26 June 2008
The world as seen from Jose Ribeiro’s desk spans some of Lloyd’s most exciting and exotic markets. As Director, International Markets and Business Development, Jose manages Lloyd’s operations in Europe, Central Asia, Australia & the Pacific, Africa and South America.
Previously Managing Director for Latin America at global broker Willis, Jose has long been deeply immersed in the continent’s biggest economy – Brazil. Now that Lloyd’s has become the first admitted reinsurer in Brazil, Jose will oversee the development of the market’s business there.
“Lloyd’s insurers already write a great deal of business in Brazil - $100 million in premium in 2007,” Jose points out. “And now that the reinsurance market has opened up there are huge opportunities to work more closely with Brazilian insurance companies.”
Lloyd’s will continue to work with IRB Re, the state-owned reinsurer whose monopoly position has been removed, but Lloyd’s reinsurers will also now be able to work directly with local cedants.
“Before the new law took away the IRB’s monopoly position, insurers often had co-insurance agreements,” Jose explains. “I expect that many of those arrangements will be terminated and will be replaced by reinsurance programmes.”
Brazil’s booming economy will also fuel the need for reinsurance and insurance capacity. Brazil is rich in commodities and new offshore oil reserves were recently discovered that may put Brazil on a par with Venezuela and Saudi Arabia as a producer. “The economy is set to emerge strongly and Lloyd’s insurance expertise across the spectrum of property and liability coverages will be much in demand,” Jose predicts.
Jose’s brief includes all the strongly emerging so-called BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India & China). But India stands out as the most elusive - so far. As in Brazil, the Indian government is liberalising the laws that dictate how foreign insurers can operate in the country. Currently, foreign insurers are limited in their share ownership of local insurers.
In the world of emerging economies, change is all around. Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries are also on Jose’s radar in 2008. In Poland, Lloyd’s has appointed Witold Janusz as its first representative in the country. Witold’s primary role will be working on the process of gaining a full establishment licence for Lloyd’s in Poland.
Poland is one of the largest markets in the CEE region, with a premium volume of Eu12.8 billion. It is also one of the fastest growing with a five-year compound annual growth rate of 13.7%.
Lloyd’s is planning to apply later this year for a licence to operate in the Czech Republic and last month a group of Lloyd’s brokers and insurers hosted an event in Prague with local players. In line with growth in the local economy, Lloyd’s insurance products, for example related to professional risks and fine art, will be increasingly in demand as will more mainstream commercial coverages, Jose told lloyds.com.
Lloyd’s has always had strong links with Middle Eastern countries, especially in relation to energy business. Now that different countries in the region, such as Dubai and Qatar, are looking to establish themselves as distinct financial and commercial centres, Jose says that Lloyd’s is investigating an onshore presence in the region.
An area with an onshore presence that has flourished over the past five years is Lloyd’s in Singapore. Lloyd’s Asia was established in Singapore in 1999 to give Lloyd’s an underwriting base in Asia. Lloyd’s licence in Singapore enables syndicates to write both local and offshore business from Singapore through the establishment of local service companies.
The only bit of the world left relatively unexplored by Jose is the heart of Africa – but that will soon change, he believes. “One of the reasons we want to establish a Middle Eastern onshore presence is so that we can work more closely with customers in Arabic speaking North African countries,” Jose says. “As we are already very active in South Africa we expect to eventually extend our reach across the continent.”
Last updated on 26 Jun 2008
