Lloyd’s of London news

Broking giant Aon has announced the hiring of Will Allen, formerly of investment bank KBW and one of the co-founders of London Innovation Underwriters, to its Reinsurance Capital Advisory team where part of his role will involve raising capital to support Funds at Lloyd’s (FAL) and London Bridge ILS structures.

Fidelis Syndicate 3123 at Lloyd’s is being launched with the support of third-party private capital sourced via Hampden Agencies and the initiative marks the first entry into the Lloyd’s market for MGU the Fidelis Partnership and CEO Richard Brindle’s return to the Lloyd’s market after 26 years.

According to Lloyd’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Burkhard Keese, the London Bridge 2 PCC insurance-linked securities (ILS) structure is targeted to see around $1 billion of capital flow in 2024, so has the potential to surpass the activity seen through the structure in 2023.

2023 saw strong growth for insurance and reinsurance linked investment manager Nephila Capital’s specialty lines focused Syndicate 2358 at Lloyd’s, which more than doubled both its gross written premium and its profit for the year.

The first catastrophe bond to be issued using the London Bridge 2 PCC insurance-linked securities (ILS) structure provides a valuable roadmap for Lloyd’s market participants and Lloyd’s CFO believes the market’s ILS platform offers a viable alternative to domiciles like Bermuda.

The Lloyd’s of London insurance and reinsurance marketplace is on-track to achieve its best returns on capital in more than 15 years, according to analysis from Insurance Capital Markets Research.

To attract more capital to the insurance and reinsurance market, including through insurance-linked securities (ILS) opportunities, there is a need for a greater focus on investor needs and delivering transparency, something Lloyd’s CFO Burkhard Keese said his employer is working towards.

With rates remaining higher and performance improved, capital market investor confidence in the global specialty insurance and reinsurance sector is returning, according to Insurance Capital Markets Research.

The capital raise for the 2024 underwriting year for London headquartered specialty insurance and reinsurance firm Beazley’s third-party capital backed Smart Tracker syndicate 5623 was “heavily oversubscribed” and the structure remains on-track to deliver a fourth consecutive year of underwriting profits to backers.

London Bridge 2 PCC Limited and its predecessor, together the Lloyd’s insurance-linked securities (ILS) platform, hit $750 million in aggregate issuance of ILS securities to investors thanks to the recent completion of Beazley’s first natural catastrophe bond, the $100 million Fuchsia 2023-1 transaction.