Beale to step down as Lloyd’s CEO as market faces up to big challenges

Lloyd’s CEO Dame Inga Beale will step down next year after a five-year period in charge. Ms Beale joined Lloyd’s in January 2014. She has focused on leading modernisation efforts, improving efficiency and making the market easier to deal with. Ms Beale is a strong advocate of inclusion and worked hard to ensure that Lloyd’s attracts and retains a diverse workforce. Her Inclusion@Lloyd’s initiative, which she founded in 2013, has embedded diversity and inclusion as a business imperative across the global insurance sector. But it has not been an easy period to be at the helm. In May last year, the London Market Group and Boston Consulting Group published the London Matters 2017 report, which stated clearly that Lloyd’s and the wider London market face significant challenges in the modern global, highly competitive and fast-paced economy. The report revealed that London’s global reinsurance premiums declined from 13.4% in 2013 to 12.3% in 2015, continuing the trend reported in the 2014 London Matters report, which estimated a 15% market share in 2010. London premiums from emerging markets declined from $10.5bn in 2013 to $9.3bn in 2015. Asia remains the highest growth market globally, but was also the region in which London lost most ground between 2013 and 2015. Lloyd’s and the wider London market concluded that risk managers increasingly prefer to deal with local markets. This presents the market with a big challenge as newer hubs such as Singapore, Dubai, Miami and even Madrid take business from the historic centre of the global insurance and reinsurance industry. The latest London Matters report also confirms the importance of Lloyd’s accelerating efforts to make it an easier and cheaper place in which to do business. More recently, of course, Ms Beale has led Lloyd’s’ effort to find a workable solution to Brexit that ensures European risk managers can still access the market in an efficient manner. Earlier this year, Lloyd’s reported a massive aggregated loss of £2bn for 2017, as it suffered badly from one of the costliest years for natural catastrophes in the past decade. The market combined ratio was 114%. Since those results were released, syndicates have come under intense scrutiny from the Lloyd’s risk management team to improve performance. Ms Beale’s successor will have a big job on their hands as they work with recently installed chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown to tackle these big challenges. Ms Beale said her decision to leave Lloyd’s was not easy. “The decision to leave has been a tough one and when the time comes I will miss the energy, innovative spirit and expertise that I come across every working day. Leading Lloyd’s is an honour and I am proud to have played a part in ensuring that it remains relevant and fit for purpose for the future. The world trusts Lloyd’s to be there when it matters the most and I believe it is well placed for the next 330 years,” she said. Mr Carnegie-Brown added: “In her five years at Lloyd’s, Inga has set in motion a series of changes aimed at modernising the market and making it more efficient and inclusive. Her boldness and persistence have generated the momentum required to bring about real change. I have very much enjoyed working with Inga, and I am grateful for the support she has given me in my first year as chairman.” Ms Beale’s leaving date will be confirmed in due course.

Beale to step down as Lloyd’s CEO as market faces up to big challenges

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