Lloyd’s likely to feel impact of UK robbery

The multimillion-pound armed robbery of a storage depot in the United Kingdom near London is likely to be felt within Lloyd’s, which has a worldwide reputation for writing insurance for this kind of risk, according to a report by A.M. Best.
The robbery involved the taking of a manager’s family as hostage, and occurred at a storage facility run by Securitas Cash Management Ltd. in Tonbridge, south of the British capital. Media reports say the robbers had disguised themselves as police officers.
British media have reported loss estimates ranging from 25 million (US$43 million) to 40 million (US$70 million). “The higher figure would easily make it the largest armed robbery in British history, far more than the 26.5 million (US$46.4 million) robbery of the Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in December 2004,” A.M. Best reports.
A.M. BestWire says Lloyd’s Syndicate 1414, run by underwriter Ascot, is the lead insurer for Securitas’ primary cover. It quotes David Edward, senior underwriter and director at Ascot, saying this cover would take effect after Securitas had used its own captive-based insurance. “We’re the first commercial insurance that they buy,” Edward is quoted as saying. “The cover is basically giving them physical loss of any of the cash or other valuables that they have in their possession either whilst in their premises or in transit,”
Ascot, a unit of American International Group Inc., wrote the business with fellow insurers that include Zurich, Hannover and Great American. “We’re the only Lloyd’s syndicate on that primary placement,” Edward told A.M. Best. He declined to discuss the estimated size of the loss or Ascot’s exposure because his company’s internal investigation and audit were still underway, but he did suggest the loss would be large enough to involve excess insurers such as Lloyd’s underwriter Millennium.