Lloyd’s of London has received regulatory approval from the UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to set up a new multi insurance special purpose vehicle. Lloyd’s has sponsored the creation of an independently owned and managed protected cell company (PCC), London Bridge Risk PCC. The PCC will provide access for both UK and international investors and insurance-linked securities (ILS) investors to deploy funds in a tax transparent way into Lloyd's market. Lloyd’s members will be able to use the new vehicle to manage their capital requirements by attracting new classes of investors such as pension funds and will benefit from reduced set-up times and lower transaction costs. In addition, standardised documentation and processes have been developed, designed to make the process quicker, more tax transparent and to streamline the approach to regulatory approval for investors. Provided new individual proposals utilise the standard documentation and stay within the regulators ‘scope of permissions’, it will be a simple notification process for each deal, removing the need for costly, and often lengthy, individual applications. London Bridge Risk PCC insurance management services will be provided by Horseshoe, who specialise in the management of ILS vehicles and operate across multiple jurisdictions. The approval marks a “key milestone” for the Future at Lloyd’s strategy, which aims to create an insurance market that attracts new forms of capital. As part of the future at Lloyd’s strategy, Burkhard Keese, CFO at Lloyd’s, says it continues to look at all ways to make it easier and more efficient to deploy and manage capital at Lloyd’s. Keese notes: “We are delighted that Lloyd’s has received regulatory approval to set up a new investment platform that will be available for all of the market to use.”
