Lloyd’s chief executive predicts tighter capacity and higher prices
Airmic vision went live today with Lloyd’s chief executive Richard Ward in the spotlight. Over the coming months there will be a series of one-to-one video interviews with leaders from the risk and insurance industry to discuss market developments and how they affect risk managers. These will be made publicly available via the AIRMIC website.
In his interview with Airmic chief executive John Hurrell, Ward predicted a halt to the recent steady increase in Lloyd’s capacity and a hardening of rates. He acknowledged that 2009 had been good for Lloyd’s, but said the coming year would be more challenging.
“The investment environment is very difficult. And, if you look at our results and how they’ve benefitted from prior-year releases, I think the focus in 2010 has to be on underwriting discipline. And, I’m afraid as a result of the requirement to make an underwriting profit, we will probably see rates go up and that could have an impact on capacity,” he said.
