Dave Matcham

A Market Event of our Own

Last night IUA formally celebrated its first 10 years of existence. We hosted a dinner for members and market guests at 2 Temple Place, once the city home of William Waldorf Astor. The evening went very well, the food and company were lovely and the air conditioning worked!

William Waldorf Astor came to the UK from America as probably one of, if not the, richest person in the world. The Bill Gates of his day. His love of London and branching out globally perfectly complements IUA’s international position. The majority of our members are foreign owned but all come to London to seize the immense business opportunities, talent and infrastructure on offer.

Our Chairman’s remarks after dinner also touched on the threat faced by our industry of another wave of insurance regulation. The London Insurance market has demonstrated tremendous resilience and strength in recent times but we fear we might become embroiled in wide-ranging financial services regulation when our business model is fundamentally different to banking. This message has been relayed to the FSA and European Commission and we hope that it is both understood and explicit in regulatory developments in the future.

Happy Anniversary IUA

Its hard to believe that 10 years ago (31 December 1998 to be precise), IUA was formed out of the merger between LIRMA and ILU. The last decade has seen IUA grow from a “new kid on the block” to an association at the centre of market developments. To mark this anniversary we will use various events during 2009 to promote our achievements and increase our members’ involvement in current initiatives.

The last 10 years have seen amazing changes to the London market, and yet the market is still very strong, highly respected, talented and well positioned for the future.

Having survived events such as the World Trade Centre attacks, devastating hurricanes and other natural catastrophes, much corporate consolidation and global financial turmoil, one thing is undoubtedly different from 1998. The nature of risk has changed dramatically and the allocation of capital and underwriting discipline to match that risk is more sophisticated. If it were not, the market would be in a far worse state.

The last 10 years also saw a new UK regulator with whom we work closely and which is well respected amongst its regulatory peers. There has also been a cultural change in the use of technology by the market. After a slow start we are progressing at a pace towards a fully electronic processing environment for premiums, claims, wordings and risk placements.

The market, the regulator and us, an association, all have our challenges for 2009 and the next 10 years but the indications are positive that all 3 of us are well placed for continued success.