Lloyd’s market faces under-30 talent challenge, warns LMA chief

Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) chief executive Sheila Cameron has rejected suggestions that the London insurance market has gone too far on diversity and inclusion, arguing that a strong culture will be critical to addressing a looming talent shortage. 

Speaking at the Financial Times Global Insurance Summit yesterday (24 July), Cameron said the market had made significant progress since the misconduct issues highlighted in 2019 and warned that fewer than 7% of the London market’s workforce could be under the age of 30 within a decade.

“Absolutely not, in my view,” she said when asked whether the market had overemphasised environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.

Cameron pointed to recent culture survey results across the London market, which employs around 60,000 people, and said the sector was outperforming the wider financial services industry.

“We are streets ahead of the rest of financial services,” she said.

While acknowledging shortcomings highlighted by the Bloomberg report into misconduct in the Lloyd’s market in 2019, Cameron said significant progress had been made.

“Have we been brilliant in the past? No, we haven’t,” she said. “But have we come a long way? Have we put a huge emphasis on how we behave culturally as a marketplace? Yes, we have.”

The 2019 allegations exposed a toxic, alcohol-fueled culture in the London insurance market including widespread sexual harassment and severe bullying. 

Talent pipeline

Addressing the future of the Dive In programme, Cameron said the industry should consider new ways to attract and develop talent rather than viewing the festival’s cancellation as a retreat from diversity and inclusion efforts.

“Is it time after 11 years to look at how we could do things differently? Absolutely,” she said.

Cameron added that expanding access to careers in insurance beyond London’s EC3 district would be critical to addressing future workforce shortages.

“The London Market Group said, in 10 years’ time, we’ll have less than 7% of the market will be under 30. That’s a problem. That’s a problem we’ve got coming down the line.”

She added that the challenge could only be addressed through “a strong culture and a strong pipeline of talent coming through”.

Lloyd’s chief executive Patrick Tiernan echoed the importance of inclusion, saying the market had a responsibility to ensure people “feel like they are included, and they’ve got careers going forward for as long as they choose to stay in the market”.