11th March 2015

London Market Group outlines five key initiatives for 2015

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London Market Group(LMG) has announced five key initiatives for 2015. These seek to build on the conclusions and recommendations within the LMG report London Matters–the competitive position of the London Insurance Market.
With each initiative sponsored by a senior London Market practitioner, LMG will progress work in the following areas:
-Liaison with Government and Regulators to ensure the right business environment for the market to thrive
London Matters challenged various areas of the tax and regulatory framework in place in UK and questioned whether these were an impediment to business flowing here. The Chancellor made a commitment in the Autumn Statement to examine changes in these areas that would attract more reinsurance business to London. An HM Treasury(HMT) Steering Group has been formed to progress this work–expanding the scope to all types of insurance. LMG is providing the practitioner input to this work.
Sponsored by Malcolm Newman–managing director of Scor UK, chairman of the International Underwriting AssociationIUA) and a member of LMG–this initiative has already seen LMG submit a series of proposals to HMT for consideration for inclusion in the Budget statement on 18th March. However, LMG and HMT are keen to ensure there is an ongoing dialogue beyond the Budget timetable to continue to discuss the specific needs of the London Market.
-Marketing strategy for the London Market: build a better profile where it matters.
London Matters detailed the extent to which insurance customers–particularly in emerging markets where the London Market's share of business fell between 2010 and 2013–have little understanding of the London product. This limits the amount of business placed here especially from areas of the world with no historical tradition of sending business to London.
Sponsored by Sasa Brcerevic-coo of Hiscox–this work will look to create a marketing strategy and build a campaign around the themes of London Matters. The principal aim will be to develop a propensity to purchase London products in the minds of those clients that currently do not seek to do so. It will utilise the full range of government and other support available to propagate the message via bodies such as TheCityUK; UKTI; Corporation of London; and the Mayor’s office.
-Talent and Diversity.
London Matters set out the disparity between the make-up of the London Market workforce when compared to comparable sectors in other parts of the City. It also highlighted that London may no longer be delivering in its role as the innovative centre of excellence for international insurance. Both these themes require co-ordinated action to attract the very best talent to the market.
Sponsored by Bob Stuchbery–ceo of Chaucer, deputy chairman of the Lloyd’s Market Association(LMA) and a member of LMG –this work will concentrate on drawing together the many valuable initiatives already in train across the Market to see if central co-ordination could deliver better overall value.
-A more detailed operational vision of a modernised market.
London Matters identified that the London MArket needs to improve the ease with which business is transacted in London. LMG’s Future Process Review published in 2013 set out the vision for the way business is placed and serviced in the Market and the infrastructure required to deliver that. Work on Placing Platform Limited(PPL) and Central Services has been taking the Market towards that vision. LMG now believes that to ensure the right level of engagement from across all sections of the Market; and to ensure it gets best value out of its investment decisions, it needs to add more detail to this vision and help firms and Market participants understand better their role in delivering it.
Sponsored by Shirine Khoury-Haq–director, Operations at Lloyd’s and a member of LMG–this work will review the high level vision, and work with the Market to determine whether the various initiatives in progress join together to deliver an attractive, seamless and efficient marketplace. It will also assess if additional work is required to address Market capability and efficiency gaps, and will develop a roadmap of activity to ensure that the amount of change the Market is being asked to absorb over time is manageable.
-A reappraisal of the resources the market needs to deliver central initiatives.
LMG recognises that the action plan it has drawn up is ambitious. It will require the right level of investment, management and co-ordination centrally if the Market is to achieve its aims.
Steve Hearn-Deputy ceo of Willis Group,cChairman of London and International Insurance Brokers’ Association and chairman of LMG–will lead this work in conjunction with the Chairs of the other Associations and Lloyd’s chief executive Inga Beale. It will develop a structure and funding approach that will ensure that, where the Market needs to come together to pursue issues of mutual interest that will deliver benefit to London as a whole, it has the right resources in place to do so.
With the exception of the work with Government and Regulators where discussions are at an advanced stage already, all the initiatives are in a planning stage. They will be providing more detail on specific targets and timescales in the next few weeks. LMG is determined to make substantial progress on all fronts in 2015.
Hearn comments “London Matters is the most comprehensive study of the competitive position of our marketplace ever produced. What we are announcing is an equally comprehensive set of initiatives to respond to its findings. The report sets out a number of areas where there is opportunity to grow London; to enhance our position as the pre-eminent global insurance centre. Our cluster features brokers, insurers and the full range of necessary expert and support service firms all gathered within 400 metres of Lime Street. It adds immense power to our client service offering. But clusters need nurturing if they are to continue to thrive. That is the work we are announcing. The Market, through LMG, in partnership with Government and our Regulators, is embarking on vital work to promote and develop the London cluster. This is an important moment in our history. I am proud to be a part of it.”
Insurance Newslink comments "This is excellent progress in a short period of time, and we look forward to keeping our readers up to speed with the exciting developments from a global viewpoint."