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TIME EUROPE Monday, November 6, 2000 Interview with Max Taylor The extended version of TIME's exclusive interview with the chairman of Lloyd's
TIME: Congratulations on your court victory. Did you by any chance ring the Lutine Bell twice today (the Lutine Bell, which hangs in the Lloyd's of London Underwriting Room, is traditionally rung once to signify the loss of a ship, twice to signify a safe arrival)? Taylor: Not exactly, no. We were always very confident of the outcome, as you know, and I guess from our point of view we couldn't have wished for a more unequivocal decision. TIME: But the trial itself exposed a lot of dirty linen and the judge in his conclusion today went out of his way to say that despite all the reforms and the catalogue of failings and incompetence by underwriters, managing agents, members' agents and others were staggering and he said brought disgrace on one of the City's great markets. Is it a chastened Lloyd's that will be seeking to, as you say, "get on with the business of running the world's foremost specialist insurance market?" Taylor: There are two points there. First of all you have taken half of what the judge said. What he also went on on to say was that he made no criticism whatsoever of Lloyd's as a regulator. In fact, he was extremely complimentary about the efforts that were being made by those who were putting in the regulatory reforms at Lloyd's, and said that the events that took place at that time took place in spite of that. He made the point that these were individual cases of individual agents and businesses in the market, all of which were on the public record and all of which, many of which have actually been through individual law cases and all of which are in the public domain. So as far as we are concerned, this is history; this was years and years ago. There is nothing new in here. The market is completely and utterly different today and it is because of the regulatory reforms that were started in the 1980s and work that has been continued ever since that that is the case. TIME: So, as far as you are concerned, the fact that there were underwriters, managing agents, etc., displaying huge failings and incompetence had nothing to do whatsoever with the Lloyd's Council or Lloyd's in its capacity as a supervisor or regulator of that market? Taylor: It is made very, very clear -- and I repeat: very, very clear -- in this judgment and it is accepted that standards of regulation and supervision at Lloyd's were reflective of the standards that applied within the insurance market generally. Very positive and complimentary remarks have been made about the people and their integrity who were seeking to bring about the reforms that were required by Lloyd's at that time. It was, in spite of that, very clearly -- I am now quoting the judge -- in spite of that that the individual failures within the businesses took place. TIME: So you feel that now no taint of disgrace adheres to Lloyd's? Taylor: Absolutely not. TIME: The judge further said that it was high time that litigation came to an end and he suggested that there should be an independent review to consider the individual cases of the Names who did not accept R&R (reconstruction and renewal). Will you respond to that suggestion to "pursue an overall solution?" Some of the Names at Lloyds think you will simply pursue them. Taylor: Let us be clear again as to what the key factors are. First of all, there is no legal excuse now for those Names not to pay their debts. Secondly, he made the point that the settlement of those debts must be considered alongside the 30,000 plus people who did accept Reconstruction and Renewal at the time that it was offered. Thirdly, we agree that we wish not only to resolve the legal issues, which we basically regard as now having been done, but also to resolve the debt collection issues and we now need to decide what is the best way to carry that forward. As far as we are concerned, we will continue to pursue our debts. The precise mechanisms by which we do that is to be determined, and we will certainly consider the comments made by Judge Cresswell as to his suggestions about how that might be done. I should qualify that: he has not suggested setting up an independent entity to do this, he has suggested that Lloyd's might like to set up a body of independent people who might help to expedite that process. As we acknowledged in court this morning, consideration will be given to his suggestions. MORE>> Page One | Two | Three TIME Europe home More stories from TIME Europe and related links E-mail us at mail@timeatlantic.com |
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