The president and chief executive of Aon Corp, Greg Case, has said London will retain its pre-eminence in the global risk and insurance market, but needs to speed up access to the abilities and skills it provides which cannot be found anywhere else.
Mr Case was speaking during a visit to Lloyd’s to deliver an address to the Insurance Institute of London.
He said: “London and the Lloyd’s market is the leading home of underwriting culture, of capability, experience and capacity.
“Aon is and will remain a huge supporter of the Lloyd’s and London market and we have a significant operation in the heart of London.”
Case said there was capacity across the world but what brought risks to London was its unrivalled expertise and experience to handle risk.
“The capability to understand risk in this market is probably unrivalled anywhere else in the world”, he said. But he added that although brokers still get very quick decisions in terms of placing their business in the market, there is still room for improvement when it comes to business processing.
Despite that, he emphasised that the market recognised the work that has already been done to speed up that flow. He also issued a call to underwriters and brokers to see risk as a business opportunity and not simply as a hindrance to the ability to do business.
He said clients were aware that to misunderstand the risks they face could prove fatal to their company’s future, adding that there is now a growing recognition that effectively managing risks can have a positive impact on companies’ balance sheets.
“We see risk as three parts opportunity to one part business downside” he said.
