Commercial Risk Europe: London Market Group identifies trade priorities post-Brexit

11 April 2019

The London Market Group (LMG) has called on the UK Government to be “proactive in opening up international insurance markets based on mutual market access, home-state supervision and no host-state financial requirements”.

The LMG said it has identified a number of priority markets that it will seek to work on with the Treasury and the Department of International Trade.

Malcolm Newman, managing director of SCOR’s EMEA hub and sponsor of the workstream to create the right business environment, said: “Our target markets include the US, Switzerland, ASEAN, Latin America and the MENA countries. We would like the UK Government to develop an approach to third countries that seeks to liberalise access to such markets. Using its embassies, consulates and the many trade discussions and dialogues it is having, the UK Government can also help London to promote insurance and support the message that it helps foster sustainable economic and social development.”

According to the LMG, the next steps include:

• Bringing the industry together and building a consensus regarding the requirements for the London market in a potential new trading arrangement with Switzerland
• Ensuring that London market issues are fed into the work of the UK-US Regulatory Working Group to maximise alignment with the US market
• Promoting the value of the London market in key ASEAN economies such as Indonesia and Malaysia, highlighting how the market can help them deliver their ambitious economic development goals
• Continue to support the work of the Islamic Insurance Association of London to promote London’s (re)takaful offer.

The LMG noted that the US continues to be the London market’s single biggest source of business and recommended “further promotional activity of the value of the London market”. As for Switzerland, it said there was an opportunity to negotiate a financial services-centred free trade agreement, “or at the very least a deeper relationship between the two commercial insurance markets, which allows for cross-border trade in (re)insurance and broking services”.

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