Lloyds of London to Pay Out Almost €5bn in COVID Claims

Lloyds of London will pay almost €5bn in COVID related claims for the first six months of the year as it records its a half-yearly loss.

Insurance giant Lloyd’s of London is expecting to pay out billions in claims sparked by Covid-19, as the cost of the pandemic surpassed many other major disasters.

Insurers around the world have been hammered by the pandemic, with Lloyd’s estimating earlier this year that non-life insurers would face a global bill of more than €100 billion in payouts for disruption to travel, business, events, trade and more. It was only a few months ago that one of the worlds most famous insurers issued the same warning.

Lloyd’s said it lost about €448m (£400m) before tax in the first six months of the year, as it took a €2.68bn (£2.4bn) hit from the pandemic. Excluding the pandemic, Lloyd’s would have delivered an underwriting profit of €1.2B (£1 billion), it said.

Chief executive John Neal said: “The first half of 2020 has been an exceptionally challenging period for our people, our customers, and for economies around the world. The pandemic has inflicted catastrophic societal and economic damage calling for unparalleled measures to stifle the spread of the virus, and to get businesses and economies back on their feet.”

He went on to say: “Our half-year results demonstrate that our robust approach to performance management and remediation has begun to take effect, evidenced by a significant turnaround in the underlying performance metrics, which give the truest indication of our market’s profitability.”

Lloyds reopened its underwriting floor this week after being closed for six months due to the pandemic. “Hundreds are turning up for work instead of the normal thousands”, said one staff member.