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Regions

This section contains details of a Coverholder's regional extension permissions and how to extend these permissions.

Delegated Authrorities

View all 'Delegated Authrorities'

All Lloyd’s Coverholders have permissions to conduct business on behalf of Lloyd’s underwriters in their own domicile. A Coverholder proposing to transact insurance business in any country beyond its domicile must first obtain permission to do this.

When extending a Coverholder’s permissions, we consider the country required as part of a region which, once approved, will permit the relevant Managing Agent to grant the coverholder authority to enter into contracts of insurance for all countries in that region.

The binding authority agreement specifies the countries in which the Coverholder is authorised to do business on behalf of the managing agent. Regional approval does not amend the binding authority agreement. Only the Managing Agent can grant authority to a Coverholder (via the binding authority) for a country or countries in which it may do business.

Insurance:

Section 9.1 should specify clearly where the risks will be located (such as property), and 9.2 should state where the insured's will be domiciled. Section 9.3 should be used for where the risks are transient, such as ships, and the relevant areas they can navigate between. Lloyd’s is not authorised to write insurance on a worldwide basis, and even where Lloyd’s is licensed in certain territories there may well be further restrictions on how the business can be accessed by the Coverholder or by Lloyd’s and also what classes of business can be written there as well. The binding authority should not state worldwide for either 9.1 or 9.2, including the use of terms such as “Worldwide ex USVI, Canada, Switzerland”. The only permitted exception to this is where the business being written is Marine Cargo or Space.

Reinsurance:

Where the business written will be reinsurance, this should be clearly specified within the binding authority and separately identified from any insurance business to be written. For reinsurance business the binding authority may specify worldwide under section 9.1 and 9.2 however the binding authority should not give the Coverholder any authority to write regions which are contrary to the guidance on Crystal. The coverholder will need approval for the specific class of business extension for Reinsurance (World-Wide) on ATLAS.


For Coverholders writing insurance business outside of their own domicile the Coverholder will require permissions on Atlas. These permissions should not be confused with Lloyd’s ability to write business in that country and Crystal should be consulted for any specific guidance on this.

Regional Mapping Document

The Mapping Document indicates the territorial extension(s) that the Coverholder needs to obtain from the Lloyd's Delegated Authorities team when writing insurance business in those territories and does not amount to a regulatory authorisation and to their own intermediary licensing to trade in the territory or territories for which approval has been obtained. For the latter, please visit the relevant pages on Crystal as this contains the latest and most up-to-date territory-specific licensing and regulatory information, including regulatory and tax risk locations rules. Please note that the ability for a Coverholder to write in a specific territory is subject to Lloyd's licensing or regulatory status as listed on Crystal.

For a list of countries and their corresponding regions please see the regional mapping document.

Open the Regional Mapping document

The available regions are:

  • Africa (Licensed/Unlicensed)**
  • Asia & Pacific (Licensed/Unlicensed)**
  • Australia
  • Canada
  • Caribbean (Licensed/Unlicensed)**
  • Central & South America (Licensed/Unlicensed)**
  • China*
  • Europe (A)
  • Europe (B)
  • United Kingdom
  • Europe (Unlicensed)**
  • Hong Kong SAR
  • India*
  • Israel
  • Labuan*
  • Malaysia*
  • Mexico*
  • Middle East (Licensed/Unlicensed)**
  • New Zealand
  • Singapore
  • South Africa
  • Switzerland
  • United Arab Emirates*
  • US (incl. Illinois, Kentucky on Admitted Basis)
  • US Virgin Islands (Admitted business only)

 

*Please note currently we are only licensed on a reinsurance basis within these territories therefore at present no regional extension is required unless the business being transacted falls within class and regional specific exceptions. For more information please refer to Crystal for additional guidance and regulatory exceptions and changes.

**With submission of this extension please can you provide the list of countries in which business is being transacted as each country has specific caveats/requirements.


For certain regions we require extra information to support the request. If the specific region isn't listed in the drop-down fields below, then no additional information is required to be submitted to Lloyd's in the task. Where multiple regional extension requests are submitted in one task, the task cannot be approved until Lloyd's is in a position to approve all the regions requested. It is therefore often easier to submit multiple regional extension requests in separate tasks. If this information is not provided the task will be returned.

After clicking "new region" you will be asked if you want to make changes to certain other sections of the Coverholder's ATLAS details. Answering yes to any of these questions will add the forms to the change request. This will save creating up to four separate change requests, however all sections will need to be completed before the change can be submitted to Lloyd’s.

This section can be updated by the Coverholder, Lloyd’s registered Broker or direct dealing Managing Agent via ATLAS. The extension must be supported by the lead managing agent.

The sponsoring Managing Agent must review the referral criteria and additional information required in the sections below and provide this information to the Lloyd’s Delegated Authorities Team, via the task or email:

coverholders@lloyds.com

The DA Team will coordinate any internal referrals.

Once any referrals are approved, the managing agent can submit the task to Lloyd’s, along with the completed attestation.

Lloyd’s DA Team will then process the task.

View Change to Coverholder permissions attestation

The task is a two stage change task. This means that two stakeholders, in this case the Managing Agent and Lloyd's are required to authorise the change and the information on the ATLAS database once the Coverholder, Lloyd's registered Broker or direct dealing Managing Agent has created and submitted the task. The information will be immediately viewable under the details tab once approved. 

If the sponsoring managing agent does not meet the required maturity levels under the Principles of Doing Business, Lloyd’s requires the additional supporting information noted, to be provided and the Delegated Authorities Team will carry out an assessment on this task. 

This information can be attached to the relevant task. Failure to include this information will result in the task being returned.

  1. Details of the product or classes that the coverholder will handle in respect of Australia.
  2. Details of how local taxes and charges will be paid.
  3. Examples of the policy wording that should be used. Alternatively, if standard Australian forms are used, please state the form(s) used and confirm that they have not been modified.
[PDF] Download Policy Wording Checklist Australia 2021

Coverholder notification requirement

Lloyd’s coverholders based outside Colombia are permitted to write Colombian reinsurance business across borders under Lloyd’s underwriters’ reinsurance licence. New requirements issued by the regulator (SFC External Circular 020 of 03 October 2018) state that the registered reinsurer (Lloyd’s Underwriters) must notify the regulator of their intention to appoint offshore coverholders, submitting a notification which must include details of all the coverholders that will write reinsurance business across borders. Following the submission, the coverholder will be allowed to underwrite Colombian business on behalf of the concerned reinsurer.

Notification procedure

To initiate the process, Lloyd’s coverholders based outside of Colombia that intend to transact Colombian reinsurance business across borders are required to contact Lloyd’s Representative Office in Colombia (email: colcoverholders@lloyds.com) with the following information:

  • name
  • location
  • lines of business and type of cover
  • limits of subscription (territorial or total exposure limits)
  • period of validity of the binding authority
  • copy of the binding authority
  • UMR
  • details of a point of contact who will be engaged throughout the notification process.

To ensure continuous compliance with the notification requirement, coverholders must notify Lloyd’s Colombia of any changes to the binding authority, including any modifications to the agreement, renewal or cancellation. This notification should be issued as quickly as possible and must not exceed 14 calendar days after the changes have come into effect.

  1. The Coverholder is required to complete a Canadian Coverholder Questionnaire.

The questionnaire provided below will need to be uploaded and attached to the task on ATLAS for all Canadian regional extensions and new coverholder applications wanting an extension to Canada.

Download Canada Compliance Questionnaire Regional Extension

Notes:

It is the responsibility of the Coverholder to ensure that any local licensing requirements are met. See Crystal for details.

In order to ensure understanding of Canadian compliance requirements, Lloyd’s Canada is required to conduct a telephone interview with the applicant.

The Chinese regulatory framework does not permit Lloyd's underwriters, either writing via LICCL or offshore, to grant a binding authority to a coverholder domiciled in this country. Lloyd's underwriters are permitted to write non-life direct business and reinsurance business from China through Lloyd's Insurance Company (China) Ltd (LICCL). For further information please check Crystal.

For a binding authority held by a coverholder based outside of China the coverholder must comply with local reinsurance requirements. These intermediaries must have coverholder approval for reinsurance worldwide. Any coverholder looking to expand their permissions into China will need approval for Reinsurance (World-Wide) on Atlas and NO regional extension to China is required at present. Please check Crystal for further information about any class specific insurance exceptions and regulatory changes.

Europe A is the regional permission intended for risks that are to be written on Lloyd's Europe paper via Lloyd’s Insurance Company S.A (Lloyd’s Europe). A risk must be written on Lloyd's Europe paper under a Coverholder Appointment Agreement (CAA) if the risk location is in the EEA and/or a policyholder is domiciled in the EEA. Only risks with a risk location or policyholder domiciled in the EEA, Switzerland, UK, Cyprus and Norway will be able to use this regional approval for direct business. For reinsurance, please refer to Crystal for additional guidance and regulatory exceptions and changes.

A coverholder is automatically approved to write risks from it’s own domicile, however an EEA domiciled coverholder does not automatically gain Europe A as a regional permission once approved. If a coverholder intends to bind insurance originating from EEA territories other than it’s own territory, it will need to request Europe A as a regional permission. This is facilitated through the exercising of EU passporting rights.

When requesting Europe A, please provide the following information in the comments section of the ATLAS task:
• A list of territories the risks will be written from
• Confirmation that all relevant regulators of those territories have been notified of the Coverholders intention to exercise passporting rights (note: this may be checked against the registers of those regulators if applicable).
 

  1. Details of the product or classes that the Coverholder will handle in respect of Hong Kong.

As Lloyd's is not licensed in India currently, a Lloyd's underwriter may not grant a binding authority to a coverholder domiciled in this territory.

Lloyd's underwriters are currently not licensed to write insurance in or from India. However please check Crystal for class and regional specific exceptions and regulatory changes.

Lloyd's underwriters are currently permitted to write some (See Crystal) reinsurance originating from India on a cross-boarder basis only in which the underwriting takes place outside of the territory. A binding authority held by a coverholder based outside of India must comply with local reinsurance requirements. These intermediaries must have coverholder approval for reinsurance worldwide. Any coverholder looking to expand their permissions into India will need approval for Reinsurance (World-Wide) on Atlas and NO regional extensions to India is required at present unless the risks falls within the class specific exceptions.

  1. Details of the product or classes that the Coverholder will handle in respect of Israel.
  2. Confirmation that the policy wording intended to be used in Israel is approved by the local regulator.

The Delegated Authorities team will liaise with Lloyd’s Israel once the task is submitted which might raise additional questions.

Coverholder business is not permitted.

If a managing agent wishes to engage in the Japanese insurance market they must write their intended business through the Lloyd’s Japan platform via Lloyd’s Japan Inc. (109999OQO). To do this the Managing Agent would require a usual associated or DDMA relationship with the ‘Coverholder’, depending on whether the business is to be written direct or through a Lloyd’s broker. Lloyd's would not require any information in order to approve this request or refer this to the Japanese reps currently listed (John Threshie & Iain Ferguson).

Managing Agents can set up Service Companies in Japan through LJI, this request will not come directly to Lloyd's DAT like a usual Service Company application on ATLAS. John Threshie will contact Lloyd's DAT and the usual process will flow from there to begin the process.

For further information please refer to Crystal

Malaysia:

Lloyd's underwriters are not licensed to write insurance in or from this territory apart from the class and regional specific exceptions listed on Crystal. Lloyd's underwriters are currently permitted to write some reinsurance business originating from Malaysia subject to the three tiers of access listed on Crystal.

A binding authority held by a coverholder based outside of Malaysia must comply with local reinsurance requirements. These intermediaries must have coverholder approval for reinsurance worldwide. Any coverholder looking to expand their permissions into Malaysia will need approval for Reinsurance (World-Wide) on Atlas and NO regional extensions to Malaysia is required at present unless the risks falls within the class specific exceptions.

Labuan:

Lloyd's underwriters are not licensed to write insurance in or from this territory apart from the class and regional specific exceptions listed on Crystal. Lloyd's underwriters are currently permitted to write some reinsurance business originating from Labuan subject to the conditioned listed on Crystal.

A binding authority held by a coverholder based outside of Labuan must comply with local reinsurance requirements. These intermediaries must have coverholder approval for reinsurance worldwide. Any coverholder looking to expand their permissions into Labuan will need approval for Reinsurance (World-Wide) on Atlas and NO regional extension to Labuan is required at present unless the risks falls within the class specific exceptions.

Lloyd’s underwriters writing business through coverholders outside Labuan can only accept third tier Malaysian reinsurance business.

It is a condition of Lloyd's underwriters' Labuan license that such business may only be written through a Labuan service company by a managing agent on behalf of the syndicates they represent. A service company must also be licensed by the Labuan FSA as an offshore underwriting manager to provide underwriting services solely to that managing agent's syndicates.

For any new Service Company applications the following rational will need to be provided in additional the application on ATLAS.

  1. Business plan will need to be provided, including a rationale for establishment.
  2. Details of the product or classes that the Coverholder/service company will handle in respect of Malaysia/Labuan.
  3. Details of how local taxes and charges will be paid.
  4. Examples of the policy wording that should be used.
  5. Information on proposed staffing, including who will head the Coverholder/Service Company and other underwriting expertise that will be resident in these countries.
  6. Level of underwriting authority that will be extended to these underwriters, at the time of establishment, and any details of who the business may be referred to, when the risk exceeds the underwriter’s limits.

The Delegated Authorities team will liaise with Lloyd’s Asia once the task is submitted which might raise additional questions.

For a binding authority held by a coverholder based outside of Mexico the coverholder must comply with local reinsurance requirements. These intermediaries must have coverholder approval for reinsurance worldwide. As Lloyd's is currently only licensed on a Reinsurance basis in this region, any coverholder looking to expand their permissions into Mexico will need approval for Reinsurance (World-Wide) on Atlas and NO regional extension to Mexico is required at present. Please check Crystal for further information about any class specific insurance exceptions and regulatory changes.
For reinsurance business which is being written in Mexico, guidance from Market Bulletin Y5073 needs to be referred to.

The regulator in Mexico, the Comisiòn Nacional de Seguros y Fianzas (CNSF), announced on 12 November 2019 a change to their requirements for details of coverholder arrangements to be notified to them.  The change took effect on 1 January 2020 and means that foreign reinsurers such as Lloyd’s are no longer required to notify the CNSF of the appointment of their coverholders nor to notify any modification or revocation of the powers and authorities granted to those coverholders.

This amendment has been published in the Official Gazette of the Federation and cancels the requirements of Chapter 34.2 of the CUSF (Circular Única de Seguros y Fianzas) that required notification.
Coverholders are no longer required to provide Lloyd’s Mexico with details of their binding authority agreements with syndicates.  In turn Lloyd’s Mexico will stop submitting notifications to the CNSF.

Further information can be found here.
 

  1. Details of the product or classes that the Coverholder will handle in respect of New Zealand.
  2. Details of how local taxes and charges will be paid.
  3. Examples of the policy wording to be used. Alternatively, if standard New Zealand forms are used, please state the form(s) used and confirm that they have not been modified.

Lloyd’s Asia holds responsibility for the regulatory oversight of coverholder appointments made by service companies in Singapore and supports the market in complying with the relevant regulatory requirements. 

For new coverholder or service company applications and regional extensions, please provide a completed coverholder request form for Singapore. 

For a new coverholder wishing to setup in Singapore, additional requirements include an interview with the Lloyd’s Asia CEO with a detailed business plan. 
 
Note 1: Lloyd’s managing agents operating from London are not permitted to grant binding authority agreements to coverholders operating in Singapore as such appointments can only be done by Lloyd’s Asia service companies in Singapore. 
 
Note 2: Non-Singapore domiciled coverholders must note there should be no solicitation of business and there should be no Singapore based broker in the chain unless regulatory approval is obtained.  

Please contact Lloyd’s Asia for further guidance on the above information requirement, including relevant forms.  

The categories of intermediary entitled to deal directly with Swiss insured's are: 

  • Lloyd's Swiss Brokers approved as (1) either Lloyd's open market correspondents or Lloyd's Coverholders and (2) by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA in accordance with the terms of the Swiss Federal Council decision of 31 October 1947.
  • Lloyd's Brokers, registered on the FINMA public register of insurance intermediaries (http://www.vermittleraufsicht.ch/docs/finma_content.asp?id=31079&aktion=&domid=1063&lgi=).
  • Other categories of intermediary are not permitted to deal with Swiss insured's directly. The Delegated Authorities Team will reject an application from a non-Swiss Lloyd’s Coverholder who is not authorised to deal directly with Swiss insured's.

    If the applicant wishes to trade as a wholesaler through Lloyd’s Swiss brokers, the name and the FINMA registration number (https://register.vermittleraufsicht.ch/search.aspx?lng=en) of all such Lloyd’s Swiss Brokers must be identified and attached to the application. The applicant may check who is or is not a Lloyd’s Swiss open market correspondent or Lloyd’s Swiss Coverholder (and thus also a Lloyd’s Swiss Broker) by searching the corresponding Market Directories or by referring to Lloyd’s Swiss office.

Please answer the following questions in the comments box:

  1. Does the applicant wish to deal direct with Swiss insured's?
  2. Does the applicant wish to deal with Swiss insured's through other intermediaries?
  3. Please name all potential intermediaries identified at 2 above.

Lloyd's underwriters may not appoint coverholders domiciled in the UAE (excluding DIFC) for either insurance or reinsurance business. Non-domiciled coverholders are permitted write reinsurance business from outside the territory. As Lloyd's is currently only licensed on a Reinsurance basis in this region, any coverholder looking to expand their permissions into UAE will need approval for Reinsurance (World-Wide) on ATLAS and NO regional extension to the UAE is required at present. Please check Crystal for further information about any class specific insurance exceptions and regulatory changes.

Lloyd's underwriters can appoint coverholders in the DIFC to write insurance of DIFC risks and non-UAE risks (subject to any restrictions and in compliance with any requirements governing the insurance of the risk in the jurisdiction in which that risk is situated), and reinsurance of DIFC, UAE and non-UAE risks. Coverholders must be authorised by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). Lloyd's underwriters looking to grant a binding authority to a coverholder located in the UAE (DIFC) will need to provided Lloyd's with the following additional information to the coverholder application.

  1. Details of the product or classes that the Coverholder will handle in respect of UAE.
  2. Details of how local taxes and charges will be paid.
  3. Examples of the policy wordings that should be used.

If a Coverholder is looking to write admitted business in Illinois and Kentucky then Lloyd's will need to be notified and the following rationale needs to be listed:

  1. A copy of all licences that are held by the Coverholder as an agent or broker in Illinois & Kentucky, and of the individuals who are so licensed and who are authorised to act on behalf of the Coverholder.
  2. Copies of policy forms and wordings that will be used. Alternatively, if using standard Lloyd’s Market or ISO forms please state which form(s) and confirm that it/they have not been modified.
  3. The classes of Illinois/Kentucky business the Coverholder will handle.

Notes:


A Coverholder located outside the US cannot deal directly with US insured's. It may accept business only via US intermediaries who possess the appropriate state licences for the business transacted.

As per Market Bulletin Y5324 new admitted business in Illinois and Kentucky will not be permitted as of 1st July 2021.

A regional extension to the USVI is only required for admitted business only. Please note, as per Market Bulletin Y5324 that new admitted business in USVI will not be permitted as of 1st January 2022. 
1. A copy of all licenses that are held by the Coverholder as an agent or broker in the US Virgin Islands, and of the individuals who are so licensed and who are authorised to act on behalf of the Coverholder.

2. Copies of policy forms and wordings that will be used. Alternatively, if using standard Lloyd’s Market or ISO forms please state which form (s) and confirm that they have not been modified.

3. The classes of USVI business the Coverholder will handle.

Q: I am trying to add a region to a binder which has already incepted however the specific region isn't showing up on BAR and therefore is unable to be selected.

A: Once a region is approved it will auto-backdate itself 3 months on ATLAS, however in some instances this will still be outside of the period since the binder incepted. Please contact the Delegated Authority team for further information and for Lloyd's to update the region accordingly.

Q: Will a regional extension be required if the coverholder is writing on a reinsurance basis only?

A: No, regional extensions are only required when business is being transacted on an insurance basis. If the Coverholder is writing only reinsurance then no regional extension(s) are required and the coverholder will require a class of business extension for ‘Reinsurance (World-Wide)’ on Atlas as well as the corresponding classes for which are being reinsured. If however the coverholder is writing insurance and reinsurance then the coverholder will need the correct regional permissions for the territories insurance business is being transacted

Q: If the risk bound creates a risk location within the Risk Locator Tool (RTL) will a regional extension be required?

A: Delegated Authorities requires Coverholders to obtain a regional extension in respect of those territories in which the risks bound create a regulatory risk location(s). To do so, one must consider whether these risks create a regulatory risk location in territories stated on the slip. If they do, then you will need to apply for the appropriate territorial extensions. In general terms a regulatory risk location may be triggered in one or more territories depending on the definition of risk location as defined in local legislation / regulations.  Dependent on the class of insurance, different factors may trigger risk locations. For example, for property insurance both the physical location of the insured property and the location of the insured’s residence may trigger risk locations. Please see general risk location by class of business guidance on Lloyds.com.

Q: What tools are at my disposal to identify Risk Location?

A: The Risk Locator Tool (RLT) is a tool which you can use, alongside Crystal, to identify any regulatory risk locations which may arise in a given policy. The RLT makes an assessment of the potential risk locations of a particular policy based on the information provided when answering the different prompts in the tool. As per the RLT FAQ guidance, an insurance policy can trigger more than one regulatory risk location. This can only be assessed on a case by case basis as some countries’ laws will dictate that the mere presence of the insured in their territory creates a risk location, whereas in other territories this won’t have a bearing on risk location. This means the same risk may create a dual risk location. In that case, and according to Market Bulletin Y4998, the coverholder will be required to obtain the necessary territorial extension on Atlas.