BLW announced its Lloyd’s broker status in August 2021.  Lloyd’s can trace its roots back over 300 years and is a unique insurance market with an unrivalled concentration of underwriting expertise.  The market competes and collaborates to share expertise to develop innovative and tailored insurance solutions, no matter the size or complexity of the risk.

Business at Lloyd’s is underwritten by 76 syndicates which develop market-leading wordings and products. These syndicates accommodate the more complex or specialist risks which can sometimes be challenging to place with the traditional composite markets.  This will enable us to offer a far wider range of products and risk transfer solutions to regional brokers and direct clients, and to use Lloyd’s technology, resources and tools.

This enables us, as a Lloyd’s broker, to offer our clients innovative products and specialist solutions which may not be available to them through other markets or brokers.  In addition to market-leading products our clients can also benefit from the excellent financial security which underpins all policies with Lloyd’s being rated ‘very strong’ to ‘excellent’ with the independent rating agencies.  This, along with a proven and efficient claims payment system, provides our clients with confidence over the security of their policies.

Only fully accredited Lloyd’s brokers have direct access to a unique pool of underwriting expertise and are able to place risks in the Lloyd’s market.  A registered Lloyd’s broker is able to use their specialist knowledge to locate the best underwriters and negotiate the best terms.  Lloyd’s offers its brokers a secure market of diverse participants, each with differing strategies and risk appetites, where policyholders benefit from Lloyd’s financial security and unrivalled expertise.

I started my career in the 1980s working for Littlejohn Frazer (now PKF Littlejohn) – Lloyd’s panel auditors – handling the audits of Lloyd’s syndicates and their managing agents as well as Lloyd’s brokers.  Some of the well-known syndicates, which I was fortunate to audit at that time, included Charrington, Equity Red Star, Holman, Marchant and Meacock. 

Many of the names from those days have also now disappeared through corporate takeovers and the passing of time. It has been exciting to take BLW from its established position as a 50-year-old Lloyd’s coverholder to a fully accredited Lloyd’s broker which now has direct access to the whole market.

In recent months several Lloyd’s brokers have merged, reducing choice for customers. As a recently registered Lloyd’s broker, BLW is pleased to be able to offer customers more choice and access to a diverse pool of underwriters. BLW has no external investors and is wholly owned by the directors of the business.  Combining our expertise in niche products, sectors and regions allows us to identify and develop innovative insurance products and solutions underwritten by underwriters in the Lloyd’s market and by underwriters at the major composite insurers, all underpinned by our customer-first approach. We are committed to serving regional brokers and direct clients who need to access markets for complex and difficult to place risks.