Marco Castro, Managing Director and General Representative in Brazil, joined Lloyd’s in July to guide the market’s entrance into Brazil. His background, which includes insurance, broking and reinsurance, perfectly prepares him to marry Brazil’s reinsurance market’s needs and Lloyd’s goals
Tell us about your first few weeks in the job
It’s a two-way learning curve. My main task is to be the liaison between Lloyd’s and the Brazilian market. I’m learning about London-based managing agents’ plans, expectations and appetites for the Brazilian market while they’re learning about the great opportunities we believe the Brazilian market offers.
How’s the search for offices progressing?
We’ve been working hard searching for an adequate property and have now identified premises which will suit Lloyd’s requirements well. We have started lease contract negotiations and hope to open our office in Rio in the next few months.
What are the opportunities in Brazil?
It’s a great chance for Lloyd’s to be part of the development and growth of the Brazilian economy. The opening up of Brazil’s market, the largest in Latin America, generates additional opportunities for business - emanating from both the ceding and the local reinsurance companies - which are now being redistributed throughout the market. Lloyd’s wants to work closely with the Brazilian reinsurance brokers to embrace these opportunities.
And there are great opportunities in energy, oil and gas, property, marine and agriculture, to name just a few.
Is there more interest in Brazil now the sector’s opened up?
I’m seeing a lot of interest. My objective is to bring Lloyd’s and Brazil closer together to help develop business in Brazil. The Lloyd’s market needs to be dealing locally with opportunities, reinsurance brokers and ceding companies. It’s what other non-Lloyd’s reinsurers have been successfully doing for quite some time and are now intensifying due to the market’s liberalisation.
Has Lloyd’s been welcomed by the local insurance community?
Yes. Lloyd’s is very well known in Brazil as a landmark of insurance and reinsurance. But because of the prolonged closed-market environment, Brazil hasn’t had the opportunity to work directly with Lloyd’s. It’s important to establish a local presence to help inform the Brazilian market about how Lloyd’s operates and what advantages it has to offer.
Where do you see Lloyd’s Brazil in a year or two?
The plan is to help the Lloyd’s market develop business in Brazil and in Latin America. Attracting managing agents and syndicates to the Brazilian market is one strand of that. Another is demonstrating how important Lloyd’s can be to the development of the Brazilian reinsurance market by providing not only capacity but also innovative and creative solutions which the Brazilian market hasn’t been offered in the past.
