Lloyd's Suspends Profit Distribution

In the wake of this year's catastrophic hurricanes, Lloyd's has taken the step of postponing the distribution of profits by syndicates. The extent of the losses caused as a result of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria is being assessed but these could impact syndicates' capital levels. There is debate about the scale of the losses, with Lloyd's publishing early preliminary an estimate of £4.5 billion for Hurricanes Harvey and Irma alone, but some modelling firms estimate losses of around US$50 billion. Taking the earthquakes in Mexico and Hurricane Maria together, analysts at Jeffries have estimated another US$1 billion of losses. According to Jeffries, the market has enough capital to withstand the losses without calling on its Central Reserves – member's funds at Lloyd's are in excess of US$29.81 billion.