Japanese insurer appetite for London not dulled by Brexit

UK voting to leave the European Union has not dissuaded Japanese insurer Sompo Canopius from investing in London, chief executive Kengo Sakurada said.

Sakurada said he did not see the Brexit vote as a reason to move business away from Lloyd’s because of the strengths that London has, ranging from licences, information to underwriting.

Mr Sakurada said a “hard” Brexit would be “disastrous”. 

However he added that, for Sompo, the big attraction of operating in Lloyd’s was its links with developed markets outside the EU, the FT reports.

“By 2025 the insurance market size in developed markets will be 1.6 times larger than it was in 2015,” he added.

“I’ll continue to put more resources and capital into Lloyd’s because it gives us access to other developed markets.”

There have been fears that Lloyd’s, which uses the EU’s passporting arrangements, could lose out if free trade between the UK and the EU is restricted.

Lloyd’s chairman John Nelson has warned that insurance business would flow out of London if access to the single market is lost through Brexit, Lloyd’s chairman John Nelson has warned.

The UK’s decision to leave the European Union (EU) puts the ability of UK businesses to trade across the EU at risk, and as the exit negotiations have yet to start, it is likely to be unclear for some time whether access to the single market will be preserved.