SINGAPORE WILL HELP LLOYD’S DOUBLE ASIAN BUSINESS IN TWO YEARS

Lloyd’s will use Singapore as a springboard to help it double Asian business to US$250m a year by 2009, according to Lloyd’s director of worldwide markets Julian James. In an interview with the Singapore Straits Times published today, Mr James noted that in 2002 Lloyd’s had just two syndicates in Singapore underwriting with annualised income of about $7m. He expected the number of syndicates to increase to 12 within the next couple of years, writing a combined $250m. Mr James told the newspaper that “it's an important step to boost the number of syndicates in Singapore, as the market for insurance and reinsurance in Asia will continue to grow”. He said that Lloyd’s hoped that its operation in Shanghai would begin business early next year. “Our prediction is that insurance in China will grow about twice the rate of gross domestic product, since more businesses get exposed to more markets as part of a developing economy” Mr James said.