Opportunities in China For Lloyd’s of London

Lord Peter Levene, Chairman of Lloyd’s of London, one of the oldest insurance companies in London sat down with Maria Bartiromo today.

Lord Levene said because of the UK contraction, people are getting down to micro management. Levene believes they have to step back a little to see where we’re going in the next twelve months. This is a test of how long European countries can hold their nerve and come out on the other side.

“Insurance industry had a good crisis; [it] stayed in good shape.” Last year was a tough year as there was an earthquake, the loss of an oil rig, and the Australian floods. “Our job is to fix things and cover up and pay…If there weren’t any disasters, we wouldn’t have any business.”

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Lord Levene said that new markets are the place to be in 2011. Whether or not China is the second biggest market is not even a topic of discussion anymore. Lloyd received its first license to operate in China about four years ago, and, last year, received its license for direct insurance. Traditionally, the country has not been insured. Now, China is beginning to believe in the importance of insurance. Lord Levine stresses the need to build this into their thinking, and the need to look for growth.

-- Donna Burton, Kerima Greene and Crystal Lau contributed to this blog.

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