Innovation helps Lloyd's stay ahead
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Global reach and vast experience in understanding the most difficult risks are key qualities that Lloyd's of London brings to insuring and reinsuring risk, the head of its North American business says.
Founded more than 320 years ago, Lloyd's is the world's oldest insurance marketplace and comprises more than 75 individual syndicates that collectively represent one of the world's largest reinsurance organizations. Lloyd's was voted as the best overall reinsurance market organization in this year's Business Insurance Readers Choice Awards, reflecting a combination of quality, value, service and innovation.
"We are the world's leading specialist insurance market. We pride ourselves on being creative and out-of-the-box thinkers," said LoriAnn Lowery, president of Lloyd's America Inc. in New York. The United States, in addition to being the world's largest market for reinsurance, is also Lloyd's largest single market, generating about 40% of its annual revenue.
International reinsurance accounted for about 33% of Lloyd's £16.37 billion ($32.59 billion) in gross premiums in 2007. "You have to think globally but execute locally, and Lloyd's has representatives all over the world," she noted. "We now conduct business in more than 200 countries."
Improvements in technology to streamline underwriting and claims processes are "one of the cornerstones of building our way forward," Ms. Lowery said.
"Lloyd's businesses are led by strong entrepreneurs and underwriters who thrive on underwriting risk," Ms. Lowery said. The franchise structure of Lloyd's helps create autonomy and flexibility to drive innovation, she said.
During its long history, Lloyd's has responded with innovative coverages to challenges ranging from terrorism to climate change to weather catastrophe risks, Ms. Lowery said. "We've been able to change and modify our vision, and we've transformed ourselves over the past 320-plus years. As the world continues to evolve, we'll evolve with it."
