Lloyd’s of London news

Descartes Underwriting, the parametric risk transfer specialist, and OAK Global, the specialist Lloyd’s underwriting company, has announced Descartes’ approval as a Coverholder at Lloyd’s, which will see the firm underwrite parametric policies through OAK Global’s Syndicate 2843, bringing new risks to the London market.

Global reinsurance broker Howden Re has announced that Tim Radford has been appointed to the new role of Managing Director, Head of Lloyd’s Capital, which is set to help strengthen the organisation’s leadership across Lloyd’s market capital and investor engagement.

Two of the Lloyd’s syndicates operated by specialist ILS investment manager Nephila Capital are set to provide capacity support to a new property treaty consortium launched by MS Amlin, with data centre risk underwriting said to be a key focus for the new venture.

London market insurance and reinsurance firms, including at Lloyd’s, have increased their use of alternative capital and insurance-linked securities in recent years. But while this is seen as supportive of their returns-on-equity and cycle management capabilities, it may also exacerbate rate softening AM Best warns.

Lloyd’s of London continued to demonstrate its attractiveness to investors throughout 2025, with individual syndicates delivering strong results, while the market has also seen an increasing number of new entrants and a growth in risk capital deployed through the market’s insurance-linked securities (ILS) structure London Bridge 2 PCC.

Nephila Capital’s specialty lines focused Syndicate 2358 at Lloyd’s delivered a $35.6 million profit for the 2025 underwriting year, as its gross premiums written soared by 129% to reach over $508.6 million for the period.

In a world where competition for capital continues to accelerate, the Lloyd’s insurance and reinsurance market aims to create more flexibility for capital entering and investing there, recognising that its unique structure can help allocators access more risk per unit of capital than elsewhere.

During the AIG fourth-quarter earnings call today CEO Peter Zaffino highlighted the insurer’s launch of two sidecar-style syndicates at Lloyd’s and said the company has a “strong pipeline of SPV opportunities” suggesting future third-party capital partnerships may be expected.

The London insurance and reinsurance market need to build on the success seen with the Lloyd’s insurance-linked securities structure London Bridge 2 PCC, as ILS remains a real opportunity to support market growth despite the UK ILS regime having stalled, Chris Lay, Chair of the London Market Group (LMG) trade body has said.

Argenta Private Capital Limited (APCL) and Helios Underwriting PLC have launched a 2026 round of Starter Homes investment vehicles, which provide a capital-efficient pathway for investors to access returns within the Lloyd’s insurance and reinsurance market.