Lloyd's Chairman, Lord Levene met with the Governor of Florida Charlie Crist as part of the Team Florida Trade and Business Development Mission to the UK this week.
During the meeting, they discussed the impact of climate change and ways that the State and the market can work together to combat and manage this threat. The Governor was particularly interested in the Climate Wise initiative of which Lloyd's is a founding member of. The Climate Wise principles provide a framework for insurance companies worldwide to set out how they will build climate change into their business operations. The principles have been developed following consultation between The Prince of Wales’s Business & the Environment Programme, Lloyd’s, the ABI, and other insurance market participants.
The Governor also plans to meet with the Prince of Wales to continue his dialogue on how Florida can work with Climate Wise to extend these principles to the US.
Governor Crist said that climate change and rising sea levels are of particular concern to the State which boasts over 1300 miles of coast and where 80% of the population live within ten miles of the coast.
Lord Levene also raised the current collateral requirements which force Lloyd's to deposit $14 billion in trust funds in New York and discriminate insurers on the basis of geographical location rather than financial security. Florida has recently announced a proposal to reform these rules in the State, and Lord Levene thanked both the Governor and the Commissioner for Insurance Kevin McCarty for their work in ensuring a competitive environment for reinsurers in the locality.
The Governor spoke of his appreciation for the role that Lloyd's plays in Florida, particularly in times of crisis and for the trust that the market has established in the State.
Florida is Lloyd's second largest state, as a source of business, in the US with the market writing over $1 billion worth of business there. The market is one of the leading property reinsurers and has paid out nearly $1 billion of claims to homeowners and businesses following hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma in Florida alone.
