London has lost its status as the largest market for marine insurance, but it remains the industry’s most influential hub, according to leading industry experts.
Speaking at the Marine Insurance London conference the International Union of Marine Insurance’s Lars Lange said industry figures trace the start of the decline of London back to 2013.
Moves by shipowners to source insurance locally, and the growth of shipping in the Far East, have now seen London overtaken by Scandinavia and Asia.
London has also been hit by two major setbacks in recent years. The Lloyd’s of London Decile 10 programme — in which syndicates were told ditch loss-making business lines such as marine — saw capacity slashed in 2018 and 2019. That was followed by Brexit, which required London insurers to write European Union business outside the UK.
“London has had a hard time when it comes to hull,” Lange said.
In its defence of the capital the Apollo Syndicate 1969 head of hull Iain Henstridge told the conference that London remains the go-to place for global insurance capital.
Most Lloyd’s of London syndicates are run by non-UK firms from the US, Japan or Germany, he pointed out, while even London’s Scandinavian rivals are all represented there.
He said London remains the centre for marine business with influential organisations like the Joint War Committee, Joint Hull Committee, as well as the International Maritime Organization, all located in the capital.
“In terms of thought leadership, the Lloyd’s market sits in a cluster that represents so many interests in the maritime community,” he said.
That environment has made the London market the place where problems faced by marine underwriters — such as providing cover for grain shipments from Ukraine — get solved. “Every year throws up a new problem, but we somehow find a way through it,” he said.
The London insurance community has also provided a suitable environment to “incubate” new emerging marine managing general agents Henstridge pointed out.
London’s demise is also often viewed from the point of view of hull and machinery insurance.
But, it is also a major marine cargo market, which represents the largest portion of marine insurance premium, and a market in which the Scandinavian insurers are not involved. London is also home to half the members of International Group of P&I Clubs.
