Japanese insurer Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance (MSI), owner of Lloyd’s of London underwriter MS Amlin, is investing in the UK hub as it announces its plans to increase its underwriting capacity to £3 billion in the next five years.
According to a recent report by the Financial Times, Mitsui Sumitomo plans to reach this figure in stamp capacity – a measure of the business it underwrites – in Lloyd’s and the market that surrounds it.
Shinichiro Funabiki, chief executive of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, told the newspaper that London’s expertise in analysing complex global risks was the driver for the company to focus its investment plans on the UK.
According to Funabiki that, despite Brexit and the political instability the country is experiencing, London was “still… very investable”.
Stating: “The fact that insurance grew here as an industry and as a business, it means that there is so much history and expertise, experience, skills, knowhow that is fostered here in the UK . . . and I would, as a business leader, never undervalue that.”
This year alone, the company plans to write around £2 billion of business within Lloyd’s itself, the FT reported.
As MSI celebrates its centenary in the UK this year, it has also recently rebranded MSI Europe, another subsidiary, as MSIG UK, part of its ambitious international growth plans to reshape the business.
