Andrew Brooks, incoming Chair of the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA), has urged Lloyd’s of London to refocus its growth strategy away from emerging markets and towards the U.S, according to reports from the Financial Times.
Lloyd’s has concentrated on winning new business over the past few years by opening offices in locations such as Mexico City, Bogotá, Dubai, Casablanca and Mumbai.
However, Brooks argues that Lloyd’s should be aiming its attention at business in the U.S, which is the world’s biggest insurance market and the source of half of Lloyd’s premiums.
“By focusing on those developing countries so heavily, we’ve lost traction in our key market of North America,” Brooks told the Financial Times.
He explained that it was difficult for the kind of specialist cover sold at Lloyd’s to penetrate markets where insurance buying is still in its infancy.
“If we can work on new technology and really spend time developing products for North America, that would be great. Then you can see how the strategy can be used in Asia,” added Brooks, who is also Chief Executive of Ascot.
A Lloyd’s spokesperson also told the Financial Times: “Whilst emerging markets are a priority for Lloyd’s, with growing platforms in places like India, Dubai and China, Lloyd’s is now looking at how we can use digital platforms to reach customers overseas more quickly and efficiently than ever.”
It is unclear what effect, if any, these comments from Brooks will have on the strategy of Lloyd’s CEO John Neal, who took over the position just three months ago and has since been reticent about his plans.
