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Lloyd’s of London has named Treasury veteran Sir Charles Roxburgh as its new chair, replacing Bruce Carnegie-Brown in one of the insurance institution’s most senior roles.
Roxburgh will take up the position at the start of May 2025, subject to approval from regulators, Lloyd’s said on Thursday.
Lloyd’s, based at the famous inside-out building in central London, houses a centuries-old market made up of more than 50 insurers and hundreds of brokers, selling specialist insurance and reinsurance policies covering everything from ship crashes to cyber attacks.
Roxburgh, well known to the sector both during his time in government as well as for his work as a consultant on a 1992 task force at Lloyd’s, said he was “honoured” to be chosen, highlighting the market’s “critical role at the heart of the global insurance industry and UK financial services”.
“The market is delivering valuable protection to its customers and healthy financial returns to members and investors,” he added.
Roxburgh spent more than 20 years at consultancy McKinsey, including heading up its UK financial institutions group. He also worked with Lloyd’s executives in the early 1990s on reforms to the market.
Then followed a stint in government, including serving as second permanent secretary at the Treasury between 2016 and 2022.
One London insurance market figure said Roxburgh was well thought of by firms. “When you needed a grown-up in the Treasury to sort things quickly, everyone just called Charles Roxburgh, he’s been aware of all the big issues for a long time,” the person said. Roxburgh was also recently among those sounded out to be a potential chair for banking group Standard Chartered.
The decision signals the start of a period of transition for Lloyd’s, which is a key part of the UK’s financial centre, taking in more than £50bn in premiums last year.
It is generally expected that one of the jobs for Roxburgh during his tenure will be leading the search to find a replacement for Lloyd’s chief executive John Neal, who was appointed in 2018.
Phoenix chair Nicholas Lyons and Aspen chief executive Mark Cloutier were among the names considered for the role, according to people familiar with the matter. Lyons declined to comment on the process. Cloutier did not provide an immediate comment.
Carnegie-Brown, who will have served Lloyd’s for eight years by the time of his departure, said it had been a “huge privilege” to chair Lloyd’s.
“During that time, Lloyd’s has also made good progress in building a more modern, sustainable, innovative and inclusive marketplace,” he added.
Profitability at Lloyd’s has rebounded from a string of major claims in recent years from natural catastrophes, the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Underwriting conditions in the market are at their best in more than a decade, and Lloyd’s recently agreed with its landlord Ping An to stay at its One Lime Street headquarters until at least 2035.
But it has also struggled to dispel a reputation for inappropriate behaviour by market participants, and efforts to digitise the market have fallen behind schedule.
