Beazley, Chaucer and Talbot have joined forces to form a political risk consortium in Asia offering increased capacity for a wide range of political and contract frustration risks.
The three leading insurers in the Lloyd’s market will work collectively, providing large scale capacity of up to US$130 million for individual risks, with a policy period of up to seven years, through the new Lloyd’s consortium based in its Singapore hub (the largest Lloyd's market hub outside of the UK with gross written premiums of $680 million in 2015).
Lloyd’s is the world’s leading market offering insurance cover for political risks – the risk that political acts or upheavals will result in a loss when investing in a specific country. Key risks covered by these policies include government intervention, confiscation and physical damage due to war, currency inconvertibility and contract frustration related to defaults, and non-payment by sovereign entities.
Mr Michael Lum, political risks and trade credit underwriter at Beazley in Singapore, said: “The new political risk consortium at Lloyd’s Asia allows local companies to protect themselves against risks related to larger investments in potentially unstable geographies, backed by the collective expertise of three leading Lloyd’s syndicates. Beazley’s Singapore office has been steadily growing along with Lloyd’s overall business in the region and the increased capacity of the consortium will increase the ability of Asia Pacific companies to cover these risks locally.”
Ms Margaret To, CEO of Chaucer Singapore, said: “Our brokers and clients told us they needed help solving the problems associated with transacting business in emerging markets. We took this on board, and have responded to the challenge by establishing the new political risk consortium. With greater dedicated capacity, more access to expertise and local representation for the Asia-Pacific region, the new consortium and Chaucer Singapore provides brokers and clients with direct access to market-leading political risks solutions.”
Mr Jaime Taylor, political risks and trade credit underwriter at Talbot Risk Services in Singapore, said: “We expanded our global footprint into Singapore in 2007 and have since worked diligently to meet the needs of our clients here. Together, we will offer the Asia market the ability to assemble and deliver large scale capacity quickly and efficiently, delivering quotes for cover locally that meet our clients’ deadlines.”
Beazley is the parent company of specialist insurance businesses with operations in Europe, the US, Canada, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Australia. Beazley manages six Lloyd’s syndicates and, in 2016, underwrote gross premiums worldwide of $2,195.6 million.
Chaucer is a specialty insurance group providing clients with proven smart risk solutions for underwriting and claims. With its headquarters based in London and international hubs for Europe, Latin America and Asia, Chaucer protects clients in over 200 countries and territories worldwide.
Talbot Underwriting operates within the Lloyd’s insurance market through Syndicate 1183 which focuses on underwriting a number of specialty risks including marine, aviation, transport, energy, terrorism, political risk, accident and health, construction, contingency, financial institutions, property and treaty reinsurance. Talbot is a wholly owned subsidiary of Validus Holdings, a holding company for reinsurance and insurance operating companies and investment advisors.
