08 September 2017

Commercial Risk Europe: German buyers keeping one eye on Brexit repercussions

German risk managers are not overly worried about the disruptive impact Brexit could have upon the London market and continuity of coverage, but concerns persist, according to Alexander Mahnke, president of the German risk and insurance management association GVNW.

Mr Mahnke said, however, there are concerns that if negotiations falter and the current hard lines taken by both the UK government and the EU fail to soften, there could be problems for coverage written on a cross-border basis from London.

One leading German insurer said that if negotiations between the EU and UK drag on for too long, there is a possibility that the UK will not be deemed equivalent to Solvency II. If this occurs, the UK would effectively become a non-admitted territory and that would make it difficult to reinsure German business into the London market under the German regulator’s strict view of the new solvency rules.

But Mr Mahnke said that, for now at least, the GVNW membership is not panicking about the potential impact of Brexit on the London market and its ability to deliver specialty coverage to German and wider European customers.

 “It does not look like London will lose its importance for insurance and a mass exodus from London will occur as a result of Brexit at the moment. This is felt right now. But the impact is too early to judge as many things need to be discussed before 2019. Our colleagues in the UK do fear a situation, however, where we reach 2019 and no cross-border agreement has been reached. This would be a problem,” added Mr Mahnke.

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