US market update

19 Aug 2022

Hank Watkins, Regional Director and President of Lloyd’s Americas, provides an update on the factors driving growth in the US property & casualty (P&C) insurance market

“Last year the US accounted for about 47% of Lloyd’s premium income and that has been growing at a steady pace for the last ten years,” says Watkins, speaking on a recent visit to London. He attributed this increase in large part to the growth of the US economy, as well as rising demand for natural catastrophe insurance as our climate changes.

Another major factor driving product development and innovation across the US market is the growth of the sharing economy, says Watkins. Sharing economy companies are increasingly looking for insurance products that protect their own operations as well as the tangible and intangible assets that they share on their platforms. Insurers must think beyond traditional products and services to effectively meet these needs. And this is where the Lloyd’s market “really shines”, says Watkins.

Insuring the sharing economy

“One of the advantages of Lloyd’s is we tend to find new ways to offer risk transfer solutions to industries that are just beginning. Once that certainty of financial protection following an incident becomes available to the users of those [sharing economy] platforms, the whole industry has really taken off.

“Look at all the innovation coming out of those businesses in Silicon Valley. They are bringing new products and services to the market without track records. And they’ve been assisted over their development by the Lloyd’s market.”

Another area where companies are increasingly looking for smarter ways to protect themselves is in the digital realm. “We’ve seen an increase in ransomware attacks in recent years,” says Watkins. “Initially this started as threats from activist groups, but it has evolved into a much more sinister global problem. The Lloyd’s market was at the forefront of not only bringing risk transfer solutions, but also [offering services] at the front end before an attack even begins…to enable people to fortify their defences against potential cyber-attacks.”

Insuring cyber risk

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Lloyd’s in the US

As an internationally acknowledged market of insurers, Lloyd’s of London has been a major force in the US insurance market for over a century. Throughout the long relationship, Lloyd’s underwriters have continuously provided American businesses with creative solutions for their risk management needs.

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