Lloyd's mulls Recover Re for pandemic recovery; sets aside £15m seed capital

Specialist re/insurance market Lloyd's of London is planning to establish ‘Recover Re’, an insurance vehicle offering “after the event” cover for pandemic-related business recovery, including the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Lloyd's said that it has already started planning a "longer-term exit strategy" and is looking to announce a series of initiatives in the coming weeks. Chief executive John Neal stated that Lloyd's has set aside £15 million in seed capital to explore initiatives to support economic recovery and mitigate against future events of this magnitude.

The marketplace is expected to pay COVID-19 related claims in the range of $3 billion to $4.3 billion, making it one of the market’s largest pay-outs ever.

In addition to managing wide-ranging pay outs across sectors and geographies, Lloyd's has drawn together experts, entrepreneurs and innovators to create new policies to support the immediate health response.

The long-term exit strategy also includes the search for diagnostics, treatments and vaccinations, where one Lloyd’s syndicate is insuring more than 100 individual clinical trials taking place around the world investigating all stages of COVID-19.

Additionally, Lloyd’s is repurposing existing innovation initiatives in its Innovation Lab and Product Innovation Facility to help fast track development of insurance products.

Lloyd's said that it is working with the government, industry and businesses to support the short, medium and long-term response to COVID-19. One initiative under consideration includes establishing a ‘Recover Re’.

John Neal, CEO of Lloyd’s said: “Alongside making record pay-outs, we have been turning our attention to what more we can do to support business and society through this incredibly difficult time. In addition to our £15m package of charitable donations, we have set aside £15m in seed capital to explore how the industry can create or house structures which support economic recovery and mitigate against future events of this magnitude. We are also working with our Advisory Committees to develop a number of initiatives to support our customers and economic recovery in the short, medium and long-term.”