S.A. Meacock and Co. is the most recent Managing General Agent to join Lloyd’s rapidly-growing China platform, bringing the total to 11.
Ian Faragher, Managing Director of Lloyd’s China Re, observed that the platform’s success would encourage more participants to join. “We are hopeful that the 11 managing agents will go up to 15 and the four insurers operating from China will go up to six in the not so distant future.” Ace, Catlin, C.V. Starr and St. Paul Travelers are the four with underwriters based in Shanghai. Brit, Markel, Kiln, Chaucer, Atrium and Amlin work through Lloyd’s platform.
“Since we opened in China in April we have gone out into the market to see a lot of local and international brokers operating in China, and the Chinese ceding companies,” Faragher continued. “We have run road shows the length and breadth of the country – in the southern cities of Guangzhou and Shanghai, and in Beijing and Xian in the north – to show how Lloyd’s China works, which is important because it is an unusual venture, and also to highlight its A+ financial strength.” He also stressed that having a local base in China gives companies an added advantage.
Describing the type of business Lloyd’s writes in China, he said that it essentially falls into two categories. “We are getting the specialist risks that Lloyd’s deals better than most at, and we are getting the business that previously would have gone into the local market and not have made its way into Lloyd’s.”
Faragher also noted the ease of access the Lloyd’s facility gives companies who want to participate in the growing Chinese market. There’s no need to set up a local office he explained, as “with Lloyd’s China all that work is done for you. If you are an existing Lloyd’s Managing Agent you can be there tomorrow. The underwriting room is open and to base a team there all you have to do is pay their salary.”
The full interview is available on the Lloyd’s web site at: www.lloyds.com.
Source: Lloyd’s
Topics Excess Surplus China Insurance Wholesale Lloyd's Human Resources
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