Lloyd’s CEO calls for sustainable Canadian results

The Canadian insurance industry needs to strive for pricing consistency, Richard Ward, Lloyds CEO, told a crowd at the Risk and Insurance Management Societys conference in Halifax.Ward discussed contract certainty and claims management initiatives that Lloyds has taken to improve efficiency and service within the London market and urged Canadian insurers to follow suit. These are small steps which have been historically elusive which we believe will result in tangible improvements to Lloyds customer experience, he said.For the third year in a row, Lloyds underwriters have said that cycle management and profitable underwriting is the insurance industrys top challenges, he added, noting that recent results at Lloyds suggest progress is being made and reinsurers in Canada posted their largest profit last year in decades.Unfortunately a few good years in a row can not correct long term under performance, he warned. Moreover, there is firm evidence of increasing pressure on pricing levels and on terms and conditions at the same time as claim loss trends upwards.So far Canada has had the good fortune of the biggest catastrophe years falling during years of strong profitability but it would be foolish to expect this luck to hold out, he continued.We do not expect bumper profits every year, nor are we calling for price increases across the board, he told the delegates.We know from our own experience that to attract and retain capital the insurance and reinsurance industry needs to be able to produce sustainable results over the long term.