Lloyd’s to develop underwriting room future vision for post-pandemic working

Lloyd’s of London will be developing the vision of its underwriting room over the coming months, according to the market’s chief executive John Neal.

Speaking on this at last month’s virtual Cyber Summit event, organised by CFC Underwriting, Neal said: “As we look to return to the office and a new, better [way of working], we are creating a future vision for our iconic underwriting room.”

Lloyd’s will continue to support staff as they transition back to the office, including adopting more flexible ways of working.

In Q1 this year, Lloyd’s undertook a market-wide consultation to understand the industry’s current views of the underwriting room - its intention is to completely redesign its physical marketplace.

Now armed with an extensive research base to inform its thinking, Neal hopes Lloyd’s will develop its future vision for the room and supporting spaces. It will continue to test and refine ideas with market participants.

This follows Lloyd’s closing its underwriting room several times in 2020, adhering to government guidelines during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Once-in-a-generation opportunity

Neal continued: “The marketplace that we see in 2021 offers us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to truly perform for both our customers and our shareholders.

”That means we must simply drive innovation in our products and services that we offer and create an environment that will attract the very best talent to our marketplace.

”I am confident that we will remain close to our customers. We will continue to lead the way for solutions that will help to navigate the ever-changing risk landscape. When our customers prosper, we prosper too.”

He added that as Lloyd’s “builds back better” following the pandemic, one of its key challenges and opportunities is increasing its preparedness for the systemic risks the industry may encounter in the future.

For example, in the run up to COP26 in November, Lloyd’s will start to play a more leading role in the climate change debate.

Linked to this, the market published its first environmental, social and governance (ESG) report last December - Lloyd’s plans to focus on the market’s adoption of ESG commitments moving forward.