Bermuda and Lloyd’s can complement each other

An agreement between Bermuda organisations and Lloyd’s of London will lead to benefits for both parties, according to a Lloyd’s official who visited Bermuda this month. 

Rosie Denée, the head of innovation, commercial education and engagement at Lloyd’s, was in Bermuda this month to solidify ties with the Bermuda Monetary Authority and the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers after the London market signed a memorandum of understanding with the organisations earlier this year.

Denée, who was recently promoted, has run Lloyd’s Lab since 2020. Since then, the accelerator has seen about 130 companies complete the programme, with 95% of those companies still in existence. As importantly, eighty-five per cent of them have commercial involvement with the Lloyd’s market. 

“We've got to a fantastic position where we are seen as the number one Insurance accelerator,” Denee said. “The Financial Times recently ranked us as the top insurance accelerator or innovation hub in Europe.  

“We get between 200 to 250 applications each time we open applications for a cohort. We engage with the market pretty early on in that process to understand who they want to actually get onto the cohort.”

Following a multi-stage qualification, process the final membership of the cohort is decided on a live pitch day attended by more than 1,000 people from the Lloyd’s market, which is an endorsement of the importance of the Lab. 

“The accelerator programme is going from strength to strength, but it's also given us the freedom to really understand what else we can do to support our primary stakeholder, being the market, in its innovation efforts,” she said. 

“It's really important to always have a North Star. Our North Star as Lloyd’s Lab is to increase the pace of successful innovation in the marketplace. And there are so many ways we can do that, we should always be challenging ourselves: ‘Are we doing enough?’ 

“It comes back to having a home. I think people engage with Lloyd's Lab in a way that they feel that there is so much more freedom within the lab space to come and experiment like you probably wouldn't with other parts of Lloyd's, but you've got permission that this is a place to come and move the dial of your understanding on a new area of technology or a new topic, but also that you don't have to have any upfront investment, and it's okay to fail like this is. It's really a different feel.”

That spirit of innovation has led to Lloyd’s moving to expand its reach and brand. 

Denée said Lloyd’s is sometimes perceived as being London-centric, and while the marketplace and building are firmly anchored in London, the Lab and Lloyd’s Academy can offer their services anywhere. 

“We don't have to be set in one space, and it gives us that flexibility to go and engage with different regions, different audiences, in ways that they want to be met,” she said. “The good thing about the Lab and Academy is that while we have some very structured ways of engaging with the Lab, but we also have the ability to flex the muscle and change it and kind of meet someone where they want to be met. “So we've signed the MOU with the BMA and ABIR here in Bermuda. The Lab also has an MOU with the Department of Economy and Tourism in Dubai, and those are two great examples of us  understanding and getting closer to a region, the kind of different drivers and pull factors where we can support the BMA and the lab. 

“The BMA already has innovation tools, and its toolkit, but we're really complementary. All of this is about building a smarter, stronger ecosystem around success. When you're innovating in a marketplace, it's not competition; people want to try and engage and help in the success story.”

Denée said the Academy would have a cohort in conjunction with the BMA on reinsurance which would tackle some reinsurance problem statements “which we will be looking to try and find solutions to meet”. 

She said: “We will have mentors from the island using local expertise, we're getting the problem statements written by local experts on the island. 

“We've got a working group, and through that process, we will understand other kinds of headaches, and as we start this relationship, knowing that there's going to be many phases of it, we as a lab can also provide the structure.

“We've got these programmes which we know work and are really effective and impactful, but it also allows for a lot of creative thinking. So with ABIR, we've got two great markets. Why don't we educate both of our markets on each other's markets, and allow that kind of knowledge sharing to happen? “There's so much power in Lloyd’s and Bermuda, collaborating and understanding that we play in different areas, and that's great, because we can actually come together and collaborate and support each other's onward journeys and growth.”

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