Lloyd’s of London slumps to £2 billion loss over hurricanes and wildfires – 2017 was “the costliest year for a decade for natural catastrophes”

By Oliver Ralph
21 March 2018
(Financial Times) – Lloyd’s of London has reported its first loss in six years as a series of natural catastrophes took their toll on the insurance market.The underwriters at Lloyd’s faced claims for hurricanes in Florida and the Caribbean, earthquakes in Mexico and wildfires in California in what chief executive Inga Beale called “the costliest year for a decade for natural catastrophes”.Added together, they pushed Lloyd’s to a £2bn pre-tax loss, against a profit of a similar size in 2016.Ms Beale said: “We were serving our purpose by paying out,” and added that the size of the claims was in line with Lloyd’s market share in the affected areas. [more]

Lloyd’s of London slumps to £2bn loss over natural catastrophes