Following a glut of recent insurance executive appointments in recent weeks, Lloyd's of London today announced that John Nelson was named to succeed Lord Levene of Portsoken as the next chairman of Lloyd's insurance market. Nelson is slated to take the office in October.
"It is a great honor for me to accept this role and I look forward to playing my part in steering the world’s leading insurance market through the next stage of its evolution," Nelson said, adding that recent global catastrophes such as the earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand and floods in Australia highlighted the vital role insurance plays in helping communities and businesses rebuild after a disaster.
Last year, Lloyd's says its profitability fell "because it was quite a difficult year because of claims, and because of low insurance premiums and low investment returns," Nelson said in a statement.
He later expounded upon this, according to a report in today's Wall Street Journal: "The challenge is to make sure that we maintain the significance and substantial improvement of underwriting standards over the last few years," Nelson told Dow Jones Newswires. "That, I think, is a sine qua non for the success of Lloyd's."
Nelson comes to Lloyd's with much experience in the financial services, real estate and retail sectors. He spent 15 years at Kleinwort Benson, working in both the UK and the United States, before moving to Lazard in 1986 where he ran the corporate finance division for 13 years, eventually rising to vice-chairman in 1990.
Later, he retired as chairman of Credit Suisse First Boston Europe in 2002 after three years, and took up a number of board and advisory positions including deputy chairman of Kingfisher plc—a position from which he is due to retire later this year. Additionally, Nelson joined Hammerson plc in 2004, and became chairman in 2005—a position he will continue to hold.
