This week, as it has done now for the past 11 years, Lloyd’s opened its arms to those considered the best and brightest U.S. brokers with the aim of educating them about an often misunderstood market in the industry.
“We are the best known, but least understood brand in insurance,” says Hank Watkins, president of Lloyd’s America.
This year, 31 individual brokers from the some of the top 25 brokerage firms, ranked by revenue, in the United States packed up their bags and headed to London. Watkins says the individuals spent part of their day in class sessions run by Lloyd’s specialists learning about how the market handles five major classes of business: property, energy, marine (ocean shipping), management liability (commonly referred to as directors and officers) and professional liability.
After the lectures, the brokers spend the remainder of the day shadowing Lloyd’s brokers to get a deeper understanding about how the market operates. He says the takeaway for brokers is understanding that the placement of business is based on relationships and face-to-face meetings, which Watkins says is difficult to understand without experiencing it firsthand.
The U.S. brokers are chosen from about 50 submissions made by the chief executives at brokerage firms throughout the United States. The final decision is made by Lloyd’s management. The U.S. brokers pay for airfare and hotel, but Lloyd’s picks-up the tab for the rest of the program, says Watkins.
The program, The Andrew Beazley Broker Academy at Lloyd’s, originally began with just 20 individuals, and has grown over the years. It is held once a year. This year the program incorporates the more than decade old U.S. Lloyd’s broker program with the Andrew Beazley Broker Academy, created last year by Beazley and Hiscox to honor Andrew Beazley, the founder of Beazley. There is some talk about forming an Alumni type program for attendees someday, and the possibility of opening a similar program to other international markets.
For now, Watkins says the main focus is to educate and spread the knowledge that Lloyd’s is an accessible market for U.S. brokers seeking to place specialty business. “The whole goal is for us to send back 31 Lloyd’s evangelists who will tell their friends, and anybody who will listen, how intriguing this place is, yet how relatively easy it is to get business done,” says Watkins.
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