Page 193 - harryDEC12_clean.iba

He seems satisfied.
„Did that go well, I mean, as well as you expected?“ I ask, as we leave -
„Excellently,“
John's answers
„I had already raised the commission by 3% so he could knock off some. We’re 0.5% better off than expected and the clauses he struck out are waste paper that nobody would expect anyway.
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Over lunch, John told to me of certain tensions in the Market, that are being spoken of in the circles of the initiated behind a masking hand. There is a certain anticipation of doom in the air. The peak of the iceberg with the name „asbestosis“ had become visible and in Re-insurance circles there was discussion of having to dress warmly.
John explained me the doomsday scenario, that was hidden behind the name "Asbestosis crisis". This was the result of claims for compensation against Lloyds that could run into billions - though the amount was far from known, there were whispers of a possible collapse of the global insurance Market. When I asked John on what grounds, he said:
"These are claims of millions of workers who have come in the course of their work in touch with the carcinogenic substance asbestos. It is the nemesis of employers' liability policies which had been underwritten by Lloyds as long ago as 30 years ago and there were nowhere sufficient capital reserves, so they were going to hit the very substance of the Market; Insider like "Goldfinger" are already fidgeting about the potential size of the claims volume that will arrive like a tidal wave from the other side of the Atlantic."
For daily practice that meant that the insurers had to fill their books with premiums to generate cash flow. ‘The Market is soft‘, John said. After lunch we entered the Lloyd’s ‚underwriting room‘ and went straight to Stuart Helman’s box, which was close to the rostrum. A crowd of cheerful brokers was standing before the box. They spoke with loud voices, the restrained whispering had given way to a loud collegial tone, given wings by Macon or other alcohols that had been enjoyed at midday. We had an appointment and it was not long before Helman spotted John in the crowd and then looked at me.
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