Governance
Lloyds under pressure over Burma |
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| Written by Gary Howes | |
| Tuesday, 04 November 2008 | |
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Lloyd's of London to be targeted by rights groups over brokering insurance on behalf of regime.
Lloyd's of London, the worlds foremost insurance market, will this morning come under increasing pressure over its facilitation in providing insurance for companies that are alleged to be propping up the Burmese military junta. Avaaz.org has this morning called on its supporters to join in a campaign to pressure key decision makers at Lloyd's into re-examining those deals that are set to come up for renewal in the near future.Paul Hilder at Avaaz says, "Burma's military dictators remain entrenched, propped up by dealings with Western companies. But the Burmese democracy movement has found a powerful pressure point - many of the Generals' West-linked business ventures depend on one insurer: Lloyd’s of London." Lloyd's of London is the umbrella and overseer for hundreds of specialist insurance syndicates, "and it can stop their dirty trade if it so chooses," continues Hilder. Already many big global insurers have stopped insuring junta-linked businesses. Pressure has had some success Coming up for criticism is Marsh's UK aviation arm which is alleged to have brokered the controversial insurance of state-owned Burmese airline Myanma Airways into the London Market. According to Alexander Ferguson at Reinsurance Online Marsh has stated that: "Until recently, Marsh placed a small amount of reinsurance for an insurance company based in Burma, referred by independent non-Burmese brokers. Marsh is in the process of divesting itself of this business and will have no ongoing business relationship with any Burmese company." Bowing to pressure from human rights campaigners, rival brokers, Willis and Aon, as well as global reinsurer Swiss Re, have all declared that they will cease their business relationships with Burma. Baron Peter Levene Baron Levene of Portsoken, the Chairman of Lloyd's of London has been personally singled out for criticism over the Burma issue. Not only is Levene the Chairman at Lloyd's, he is also a director at Total - the energy company that has signed deals with the Burmese junta to pursue gas and oil reserves in the country. The benefits to the regime are staggering. Nick Mathiason at the Guardian believes the amount the regime pockets over this deal alone is $2.66m every day. Leven is undoubtedly one of the leading figures Avaaz will be keen to petition over business dealings that are undoubtedly propping up one of the worlds most repressive regimes. The Foreign Office in September wrote to Levene outlining its disapproval that Lloyd's brokers are trading with the Burmese military dictatorship. Lloyd's response The letter has forced Levene to write to the insurance market's managing agents last week 'urging them to consider' their involvement with the repressive regime. A Lloyd's spokesperson said, "We are unaware of any businesses at Lloyd's defying international sanctions. If we discovered any underwriters breaching sanctions we would take action immediately. A very small amount of reinsurance is written at Lloyd's in Burmese shipping and aviation. As a market, ultimately it is up to the individual businesses to decide where their business comes from and we cannot direct them."
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