Lloyd’s of London Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Inga Beale confirmed that the marketplace is set to begin operations in Brussels next January.
Lloyd’s announced in March 2017 that it had selected Brussels, Belgium, as its European Union home with the aim being to be ready to underwrite business there for the 1st January 2019 renewal season.
The Brussels base will enable Lloyd’s to underwrite risks from all 27 European Union and three European Economic Area states after the United Kingdom has left the EU, enabling the market to provide clients with continuity and ongoing access to underwriting products and services.
“We are hiring people, we hope to make some appointments shortly. We will have the Brussels subsidiary up and running by January 1, 2019,” CEO Beale told Reuters.
“That is ahead of the actual official exit, but we run a market and we want to be ready for all of our businesses and syndicates that operate within the market. That’s why we are really pushing ahead.”
Beale added that the Brussels subsidiary application was with the Belgium regulator.
“The only thing that might change it … is any sort of delay to an actual impact of Brexit,” she said.
Lloyd’s has until March next year before any impact to European markets from Brexit is really felt, so having Brussels in place now will enable it to get the new base up to speed in plenty of time.
