The United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union last week surprised the world, and now has the international insurance community assessing the potential effects – and the key word is uncertainty.
The Brexit campaign succeeded on a 52 percent to 48 percent vote, and UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who had advised against leaving the EU, quickly announced he would step down. While a key motivation of the “Leave” campaigners had been the opportunity to set UK-specific regulations and policies, UK insurers and European insurers with headquarters in the UK currently benefit from the European Single Market and the “passporting” regulatory structure that allows UK insurers to operate in any other EU state without additional authorization. Insurance leaders in Europe have followed Brexit closely, keeping an eye on investments and planning for the two possible outcomes.
Brexit, pursued by a bear market
The vote quickly affected the overall financial services sector, with the pound dropping in value to its lowest point in 30 years.
Upon the vote last week, Lloyd’s Chairman John Nelson, said, “I am confident that Lloyd’s will stay at the center of the global specialist insurance and reinsurance sector, and I look forward to continuing our valuable relationship with our European partners. For the next two years our business is unchanged. Lloyd’s has a well prepared contingency plan in place and Lloyd’s will be fully equipped to operate in the new environment.”
Read the full story
This story in an excerpt of the original. The content originally appeared in Professional Front Page News. To read the whole story, you must be a subscriber. Subscribe now. If you are a subscriber, check your email for Professional Front Page News on June 27.
Erin is the managing editor of Advisen’s Front Page News. She has been covering property-casualty insurance since 2000. Previously, Erin served as editor-in-chief of The Standard, New England’s Insurance Weekly. Erin is based in Boston, Mass. Contact Erin at [email protected].
