Tom Broughton, editor

The market is set to enter a period of unprecedented political, regulatory and structural change. There will be winners and losers over the next 12 months. But who are the five market movers who can really make a difference?

  • George Osborne. This week the Shadow Chancellor attempted to create a chasm between Tory and government thinking. His ideas are simple, even if the delivery may be complex: scrap the FSA, hand regulatory control of insurers to the Bank of England, and establish a new body to look after and oversee consumer interests. Given the FSA’s appalling track record and the fact it fell to the Federal Reserve and Bank of England to bail the world out in times of crisis, it’s not such a bad idea, is it?
  • Lord Mandelson. He was brought back to government to help fight Labour’s rearguard action. But it hasn’t taken him long to take centre stage again, whether it is by announcing public spending cuts or car scrappage schemes (see page 30). This week he explains how brokers can help fix the trade credit insurance crisis and what the government is doing to help (see page 12). You can only imagine that he is working right now on how to defeat an inexperienced Tory leadership on the key economic and regulatory election battleground to follow.
  • Sean McGovern. The Lloyd’s general counsel is expected to be the driving force behind a major strategic review. For the first time Lloyd’s is examining its raison d’être from a position of strength, as it is expected that it will see record capacity in 2010. And with Deloitte on board to help, the only question that remains is, how far will it go?
  • Igal Mayer. The market is expecting Aviva to announce poor half-year results in a couple of weeks. Since his arrival, Mayer has been forced onto the back foot following an initial aggressive negotiating stance against a tough broking market. But now that its major rebrand is complete and the economy is looking a little more stable, maybe he will want to go on the offensive again to reclaim the centre ground.
  • Rob Brown. The new Aon chief executive picks up a number of legacy issues from his predecessor, Peter Harmer, including an FSA fine for bribery, the Benfield integration, and an onslaught on client opportunities from the risk management and consultancy space. Aon sits at the top of the broking tree, so what will Brown do to galvanise the business? And, more importantly, which top-ten broker will he buy to help him do it?

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