France off the list of contenders for new Lloyd’s EU base – report

Despite its attempts to lure UK insurers, France is now reportedly off the list of contenders for the new Lloyd’s of London subsidiary to be set up in continental Europe post-Brexit.

 

According to a report by Bloomberg, Lloyd’s of London CEO Inga Beale said in an interview that Frankfurt, Luxembourg and Dublin are under consideration, but France is “probably off the table.”

 

France has been making moves to attract businesses and people as UK prepares for Brexit. It was only reported last week that more than 80 bosses were gathered in central London where they were told that France could offer them “stability” and that Paris will be the only remaining “global city” once Britain leaves the EU.

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Anne Hildago, Mayor of Paris, also opened an invitation to the approximate 300,000 French nationals living in London to return to France. In September, it was also reported that France’s banking and insurance regulators introduced new measures to slash red tape for UK firms, in hopes of wooing businesses.

 

In late January, Beale told Bloomberg TV that Lloyd’s would determine within the first quarter the location of its new hub, which is “likely to be somewhere on the continent.”

 

Beale explained that Lloyd’s has decided to press ahead with its contingency plans following Prime Minister Theresa May’s pronouncements that staying in the single EU market will not be a priority in the Brexit negotiations.

 

“We want to be able to continue trading seamlessly with Europe – and want our European customers to be able to do the same,” Beale also told JLT’s Risk Specialist publication.

 

But whatever the outcome of the Brexit talks, Beale believes that Lloyd’s will remain at the heart of the London market.

 

“Whatever happens about deploying capital, infrastructure and decision-making in other countries, the expertise is fundamentally going to be in London,” she said.