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It is still the biggest event of its kind in the marine underwriting niche and merits the best part of week of participants’ time, International Union of Marine Insurance insists
BRITAIN is set to host the International Union of Marine Insurance’s annual conference for the first time in a decade, with more than 640 delegates from 35-plus countries expected at the event in Edinburgh from September 16-20.
The Scottish capital is the second-largest financial services centre in the UK, and some 8,000 people work in the insurance and pensions industries, with big name companies including Scottish Widows and Standard Life.
But although IUMI conference has once previously been held there, in 1979, Edinburgh has no serious tradition of underwriting marine classes.
London — the conference’s host city in 2013 — would have been the more obvious choice. But there have been seismic changes since, not least the erosion of the UK’s once untrammelled dominance in the sector.
Literally for centuries, Lloyd’s of London was the biggest market for the hull & machinery cover purchased by shipowners wishing to hedge some of their biggest risks.
It briefly slipped from the top spot in the wake of the global financial crisis but was soon able to recover its leading position.
However, in 2019 it ceded its place to the Nordic market, in which P&I club Gard is the largest player, writing the line commercially. In 2021, Lloyd’s was overtaken by China, and in 2022, by Singapore. It is unlikely that it will ever again recover pole position.
There are other marine insurance classes, of course, and once the London companies market is factored in, the city still accounts for 15%-20% of global marine business.
But to quote a statistic cited at one industry conference last year, in the context of global marine insurance premium volume that stood unchanged at $30bn in 2015 and 2022 alike, London’s share has fallen from $8.5bn to $6.5bn.
The consensus seems to be that London remains an irreplaceable hub, which still boasts unrivalled expertise and capacity, at least for now. However, the cost base remains among the highest in the world, and the search for cheaper alternatives is understandable.
IUMI secretary-general Lars Lange argued that UK affiliates the International Underwriting Association and the Lloyd’s Market Association opted for Edinburgh to create more of a conference atmosphere.
“London is home for many underwriters, who may go back to the office or the underwriting room if a workshop is not exciting,” he said.
“We wanted to create an atmosphere where everybody is in a hotel, where you can mingle outside conference hours.”
There were also practical considerations. Edinburgh offers good conferencing facilities, reasonably priced hotels and accessibility for overseas attendees, making it easier and cheaper place to organise an event on this scale than London. Medium-sized cities are quicker and simpler to get around than large ones.
But in this era of constrained travel budgets, why hold IUMI conference face to face at all? After all, forced of circumstance dictated virtual meetings in 2020 and 2021.
“It’s more than a gathering. It’s a big intense working meeting where insurers consider how to tackle things,” said Lange.
“The beauty of our event is that we meet with insurers and a few service providers only. This enables us to work together on solutions for policy issues.
“Of course, it is a massive networking event, which is much more than wining and dining. You meet your colleagues from China, from Latin America, from Africa and recognise that they have exactly the same problems as you.
“Third, it has a very large educational purpose. People always tell us they learnt a lot, so you get inspired for your underwriting book and your daily business.”
The theme for the event is “Strength and stability in turbulent seas” and that wording actually reflects much deliberation, Lange insisted.
“We like to have it positive. It’s so easy to come up with ‘oh my God, this is terrible’ headlines. That’s what we want to avoid.
“You need a certain broadness to get all relevant topics under a common theme. If we had only said ‘Ukraine war, Hell on Earth’, that would be straight to the point. But you couldn’t deal with electric vehicles and digitalisation.
“And these are turbulent times. We have technology, ESG, climate change and lots of uncertainty. But marine insurance can help you to get through.”
IUMI president Frédéric Denèfle, who will chair the proceedings for the first time since his election last year, concurred.
“Marine insurers offer a service built on those two pillars, strength and stability. Even if you’re facing a disrupted situation — inflation, international trade decreased, geopolitical tension — we are still there,” he said.
“We are into a very different environment compared with what we have experienced in the recent past. We talked about globalisation ten years ago, now we’re talking about regionalisation and fragmentation.
“We are still able to offer some support and come along with you as a shipowner, as an exporter, as someone involved in offshore activity.”
Attendees to what is the sector’s marquee event will be looking forward to the unparalleled opportunities for debate and networking.
The weekend is largely dedicated to internal committee and forum meetings, with the opening ceremony on Monday, September18 when the formal business necessary at any annual general meeting will be concluded.
This will be followed by two presentations from the facts and figures committee, which are typically among the conference highlights.
Cefor statistician Astrid Seltmann will provide the hard facts about premium levels and payouts last year, while committee chair Jun Lin will report on the state of the world fleet and of world trade.
Among the topics at the cargo workshop on Monday afternoon will be the trend towards bigger vessels, the controversial area of lithium-ion batteries and reinsurance.
On Tuesday morning there are concurrent workshops on offshore energy and hull. The latter will discuss accumulation risks, Ukraine and alternative fuels.
The policy forum will investigate geopolitics and sanctions, with a presentation from Lloyd’s List senior analyst Michelle Wiese Bockmann on the activities of the dark fleet.
The afternoon features concurrent sessions on inland hull and fishing vessels and legal and liability issues, including unmanned vessels and recent decisions in the US Supreme Court.
The final day features reports on digitalisation, and a panel discussion of whether data solutions can help prevent marine losses. The titles of the afternoon sessions are still to be confirmed.
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Subject: IUMI conference to convene in Edinburgh as Britain’s marine insurance dominance slides
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This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use. For high-quality copies or electronic reprints for distribution to colleagues or customers, please call UK support at +44 (0)20 3377 3996 / APAC support at +65 6508 2430
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