Lloyd’s of London makes £ 1.4 billion profit as it recovers from Covid losses | Lloyd’s

Lloyd’s, the world’s largest insurance market, returned to profit as better underwriting performance helped it bounce back from last year’s Covid-19 losses and announced looming representation target ethnic minority in the market.

Lloyd’s made a pre-tax profit of £ 1.4bn in the first six months of the year, down from a loss of £ 438m a year earlier. He paid £ 2.2bn for the Covid-19 losses, just under £ 2.4bn in the first half of last year. For customers affected by the pandemic, 80% of claims filed have been paid to date.

Lloyd’s said he would set an ethnic target for the entire market within the next fortnight, requiring that a third of all new hires be of black and minority descent. However, Bruce Carnegie-Brown, the chairman, said Lloyd’s did not have current figures on the company’s ethnicity.

The group also wants to achieve gender parity within 10 years and last summer set itself a gender target in the market of 35% of women in management positions by the end of 2023. Within the he company, 47% of management positions are held by women while across the market, the figure is 29%. He set an additional target of 20% female representation on boards and executive committees and said the market was on the verge of achieving it.

The group paid 9.4 billion pounds in claims in the first half of this year, linked to supply chain disruptions such as the blockage of the Suez Canal, ice storms in Texas, flooding summer in Germany and the Netherlands and recent forest fires in Europe. Insured losses from Hurricane Ida, for which estimates range from $ 19bn to $ 30bn (£ 13.7bn to £ 21.7bn), are not included in the figures and will affect performance in the second half of the year.

Presenting the results of the Lloyd’s building in the City of London, Carnegie-Brown said about 30% of staff returned to the office, and nearly 15% of underwriters and brokers working for insurers that operate in the market. . Tuesday was the busiest day since the start of the pandemic, when 800 people returned to work in the office, and Lloyd’s hosted a reception for 100 people on Wednesday evening.

An average of 5,000 people now come to Lloyd’s building each week – before the pandemic, it used to host that number on a typical day.

Gross written premiums increased to £ 20.5bn from £ 20bn due to higher premium rates, strong customer loyalty and further growth for the first time in four years . This has prompted market insurers to focus on underwriting more profitable businesses.