Lloyd’s of London hit as financial market turmoil takes its toll
Lloyd’s of London is poised to hit hundreds of millions of pounds as the financial market turmoil takes its toll
Lloyd’s of London expects a loss of hundreds of millions of pounds on its profits as a result of the recent turmoil in the financial markets, the boss has revealed.
Chief executive John Neal told the Mail that the volatility — which sank both US bank Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse — would put a dent in otherwise great investment returns this year.
Neal spoke as the London insurance market reported an increase in insurance profits to £2.6bn by 2022, but a large paper loss on the value of his investments.
Insurer Lloyd’s of London is about to take a huge profit margin as a result of the chaos in the banking sector
That pushed it to an annual pre-tax loss of £769m last year. For the current year, Neal said volatility could put a dent in the expected return of 3 percent, or £3 billion, on £100 billion of assets under management.
“If you look at a prudent case, the impact on your investment opportunity is in the hundreds of millions — you could reduce the return on investment by hundreds of millions,” Neal said.
That will still yield investment returns that are “much more than it has been in a long, long time” after years of ultra-low interest rates, he said.
The comments came as the company reported that it had paid out more than £21 billion in claims last year due to natural disasters and the war in Ukraine that had pushed it into the red.
Chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown said the environment had been “difficult for everyone” last year and the series of “overlapping crises” had created a “complex set of challenges.”