The specialist Lloyd’s of London insurance and reinsurance marketplace is set to make an announcement on its new European subsidiary during the first-quarter of this year in response to the UK’s vote to leave the EU, according to Lloyd’s Chairman, John Nelson.
Industry reports earlier this week claimed that the Lloyd’s of London market was seriously looking at establishing a Dublin, Ireland subsidiary, in order to retain access to the European markets as it prepares for the UK’s Brexit vote.
And now, in an interview with Reuters at the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Nelson said that the Lloyd’s market “will be ready to make an announcement in relation to our move to Europe in Q1, certainly by Easter.”
The specialist re/insurance marketplace has said that it is looking at five locations for its new subsidiary, which includes Dublin, although the market’s Chairman failed to reveal any information on where the new location might be.
According to industry analysts and observers, all insurance companies that are looking to set-up an EU subsidiary in response to the Brexit vote have considered Dublin owing to its favourable language, location, tax and regulatory environments.
Nelson told Reuters that once the new EU subsidiary had been established the marketplace would move a number of its senior staff to the new office.
“We want to have a real presence in Europe with underwriters having the ability to underwrite. It will be a mixture of people from various departments such as regulatory, compliance, risk management etc,” said Nelson.
According to Reuters, roughly 15% of Lloyd’s of business comes from Britain, while 11% comes from Europe and as much as 40% from the U.S.
“I’m confident London will remain a very powerful financial center whatever happens with Brexit. The danger is that a lot of business that might have stayed in Britain and within Europe may move to the U.S,” concluded Nelson.
