Lloyd’s bullish on new Chaucer-led Belt & Road consortium

Specialty re/insurance group  Chaucer has launched its new Belt and Road consortium at  Lloyd’s of London, designed to initially underwrite political violence risks, with plans to develop other lines of business in the future.

Together with China Re, Chaucer’s parent company, the consortium will provide large-scale capacity of up to$400 million for political violence related risks to companies working on China’s Belt and Road Initiative, including approved investment risks from the BRI Green Committee.

Chaucer will lead and manage the consortium, which will focus on political violence risk protection for assets under construction or operation and financed through the Belt & Road investment initiative, with support from other leading Lloyd’s syndicates.

John Neal, chief executive of Lloyd’s said he is "fully supportive of the Lloyd’s market developing innovative global risk products to enable customers to manage their risks better."

Neal noted that this partnership will increase the amount of insurance capacity available to businesses working on projects such as the Belt and Road initiative, which is expected to be a major driver of growth in emerging markets.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a major global infrastructure development project to assist growth of the Chinese economy and that of regions including South East Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

John Fowle, chief executive at Chaucer, believes the new consortium at Lloyd’s will enable Chinese companies and co-investors to better protect their assets against political violence risks across the BRI by providing direct access to market leading risk solutions.

"By combining our strong underwriting acumen and leadership position in the political violence market with China Re’s exceptional distribution network, enables us to deliver a truly unique solution to our clients and brokers by working with our fellow Lloyd’s syndicates,” he said.

Yuan Linjiang, chairman of China Re Group, commented: “Since the Belt and Road Initiative first launched, the insurance industry has played an integral role in providing risk management and vital risk protection. [...] as we embark on this new venture with other leading Lloyd’s and UK businesses we are excited to showcase the combined strength of China Re and Chaucer to the world.”

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