Understand how insurance risks actually get placed in the Lloyd’s market, with our clear, jargon-free explanation of slips, endorsements, lead/follow markets, and the subscription system.

What does it really mean to ‘place a risk’ at Lloyd’s of London? Lloyd’s is not a single insurer, reinsurer or underwriter. It’s an insurance marketplace, and risks are often shared across multiple underwriters through a very specific system of slips, lead/follow markets, endorsements and “subscription” signing.

That may initially sound complex and confusing – but taking advantage of the unique opportunities at Lloyd’s can be important if you want access to specialist capacity and flexible structures. So understanding risk placement at Lloyd’s can be a major advantage for you as an insurer, broker, MGA or InsurTech, wherever you are in the world.

Learn more with our quick and simple guide to risk placement at Lloyd’s – and discover why having a specialist Lloyd’s-approved broker like Costero Brokers on your side can make a very real difference.

Challenges facing insurance industry players worldwide

Today’s insurance market is pushing everyone to move faster and be more precise at the same time:

• New risks don’t fit neat templates. Cyber, intangible assets, climate-driven losses, supply chain exposure and parametric triggers all demand custom structures and tight wording.
• Capacity is fragmented. You increasingly have to assemble a programme from multiple markets to reach the limit you need – particularly for specialist classes.
• Regulatory expectations are higher. You can’t ‘sort it out later’ when it comes to where a risk is located, which licences apply, and what needs to be evidenced.
• Clients want speed and certainty. They expect quick decisions and clean documentation, even when the placement is complex. You need access to decision-makers and rapid answers.

The capacity and solutions offered by Lloyd’s can help you address these challenges. But to leverage the advantages, you need to understand how the Lloyd’s placement mechanics actually work.

Lloyd’s of London: not an insurer, a specialist marketplace

Lloyd’s of London is best thought of as a platform or marketplace, where specialist underwriting syndicates (managed by Lloyd’s managing agents) accept risks brought in by Lloyd’s brokers, or bound by coverholders under delegated authority. Much of the capital is deployed on a subscription basis (multiple participants sharing one risk).

When you place a risk at Lloyd’s, you’re typically tapping into a range of benefits:

• specialist syndicate expertise across niche and complex lines.
• flexible structures, including single carrier, layered placements, shared lines, blended Lloyd’s and ‘company market’ (non-Lloyd’s insurers).
• the ability to build a tailored solution by assembling the right set of markets around one contract.

Lloyd’s describes its market as having an unrivalled concentration of specialist underwriting expertise, and a structure that supports innovation and speed.

Understanding the risk placement process at Lloyd’s

If you have an insurance risk to cover that will be hard to place within standard domestic markets, Lloyd’s may enable the ideal solution. At its simplest, the Lloyd’s workflow looks like this:

1. You bring the risk to a Lloyd’s-approved broker (such as Costero Brokers). Lloyd’s expects business to come into its market through registered Lloyd’s brokers (or, in some cases, via coverholders operating under delegated authority).
2. The Lloyd’s-approved broker prepares the ‘slip’. The slip is the deal summary: the key facts, coverage intent, limits, deductibles, pricing approach, and the main terms everyone is being asked to accept. In the modern London Market, the slip is commonly aligned to the Market Reform Contract (MRC) structure – essentially a standardised way of presenting the contract so all parties can agree terms clearly and consistently.
3. A lead underwriter sets the terms. The Lloyd’s-approved broker will usually approach a specialist underwriter to act as the lead (also called the slip leader). The lead is the underwriter responsible for setting the terms on a contract that will be shared by more than one syndicate.

5. ‘Follow’ markets subscribe their share. Once the lead terms are set, other syndicates (and sometimes non-Lloyd’s ‘company-market’ insurers) decide whether to ‘follow’ – to join in on those same terms, taking a percentage each. That’s the “subscription market” in action – multiple participants subscribing to one contract.
6. The placement is bound and documented. When the required line is filled (i.e. participation reaches 100% of the risk), the contract can be bound and processed for downstream steps like premium collection, data reporting / bordereaux (if relevant), and claims arrangements.

Discover more about how the Lloyd’s market works.

Slips: the documents at the heart of Lloyd’s risk placement

Think of the slip as the ‘executive summary’ and commercial core of the deal. It’s where you make it easy for Lloyd’s market participants to say “yes” (or to propose changes quickly).

When prepared correctly, a good slip will:

• Tell a clear underwriting story (what’s being insured, and why it makes sense).
• Highlight what matters (loss history, controls, exposure drivers).
• Make the ‘ask’ explicit (limit, attachment, period, pricing, key clauses).
• Remove ambiguity (so nobody needs to interpret your intent later).

The slip captures the commercial intent and agreed terms — and those terms then flow into the formal contract documentation.

In practice, slips are also designed to support operational processing – which is why structured formats like the MRC are used.

Lead and follow markets: who decides what?

The lead underwriter is the market’s “point of view” on the deal. They negotiate wording and pricing with a Lloyd’s-approved broker, and once their terms are set, the broker takes those terms to the rest of the market.

The follow markets then decide:

• Do we agree with the lead terms?
• If “yes”, what percentage line will we take?

Importantly, the lead is not just ‘first in line’ – they’re the one doing the heavy lifting on negotiations and technical shape. The lead sets terms; others choose whether to follow.

This approach is a big part of why Lloyd’s can move quickly on specialist risks. You’re usually not re-negotiating the same contract ten times – you’re building consensus around a single set of lead terms.

Subscription signing: how one risk gets shared across multiple syndicates

In a subscription placement, multiple Lloyd’s syndicates each take a percentage of the overall risk. Each participant takes their percentage of the same contract, on the same core terms set by the lead.

A simplified example might be:

• Lead syndicate A takes 35%
• Follow syndicate B takes 25%
• Follow syndicate C takes 20%
• Follow syndicate D takes 20%

Together that’s 100% of the risk, all on the same slip terms. The Lloyd’s market calls each syndicate’s share a ‘line’ – the proportion of the risk they accept.

This sharing of the risk across multiple syndicates brings several advantages, enabling you to:

• Build large limits by combining multiple appetites.
• Reduce single-carrier dependency.
• Mix specialist expertise (for example, pairing a cyber lead with a tech E&O follower, or blending property-cat appetite with parametric capacity).

Endorsements: how you change the contract after inception

Real life happens mid-term – values change, locations shift, acquisitions happen, clauses need tightening, or the insured wants an extension.

At Lloyd’s, the mechanism for doing this properly is an ‘endorsement’ – an addition to the policy wording that changes the contract terms.

In a subscription market, that raises a practical question: Do you need every participating underwriter to re-approve every change? Sometimes the answer may be “yes” – but often, certain changes can be agreed under lead-underwriter authority (within defined limits), so you don’t have to chase every follower for every minor amendment. The advantage of this is control: you want contract changes to be fast and properly evidenced.

Line slips (and other “faster ways” of placing multiple risks)

Not every placement is one-off. If you’re an MGA or a broker placing lots of similar risks, you’ll often look for repeatable structures that reduce friction.

At Lloyd’s, one of those tools is a line slip – a pre-agreed placing facility where multiple underwriters commit capacity in advance for a defined type of risk. A broker can then bind individual risks within agreed parameters, which speeds things up and reduces repeated negotiation. It’s often used for repeatable or high-volume placements where consistency and speed matter.

In simple terms: it’s a way to pre-agree a framework so multiple risks can be bound more efficiently, without re-negotiating everything from scratch every time. For MGAs and InsurTechs building scalable distribution, structures like this can make high-volume placement far more operationally scalable.

How Lloyd’s helps you build better insurance solutions

In summary, for brokers, insurers, MGAs and InsurTechs worldwide, Lloyd’s can be valuable because it gives you:

• Specialist capacity in one marketplace (especially for complex or unusual risks).
• Flexible structures (subscription, layered, blended markets, delegated authority).
• Speed to decision, when the risk story and slip are well-prepared.
• Global reach, where regulatory considerations are handled with discipline.
• Bespoke solutions: Lloyd’s is designed to solve problems that don’t fit standard products.

Why working with a Lloyd’s-approved broker is crucial

Understanding the mechanics of risk placement at Lloyd’s is one thing. Using them well – under time pressure, with real-world constraints – is another.

Working with a Lloyd’s-registered broker like Costero Brokers helps you build your success at Lloyd’s by:

• Translating your risk (or product concept) into a clear, compelling slip.
• Finding the right lead underwriter for your class and structure.
• Building efficient follow-market support to complete the line.
• Managing endorsements and mid-term changes without chaos.
• Advising on the practicalities of compliance and risk location expectations.
• Leveraging wider international markets when Lloyd’s isn’t the only answer.

The end goal is simple: you get the capacity you need, on terms that make sense, with documentation that won’t unravel later.

Your next step for Lloyd’s success

If you’re trying to place a tricky risk, scale a delegated authority proposition, or just want to sense-check whether Lloyd’s is the right home for a particular class or distribution model, Costero can help.

Get in touch with us at Costero Brokers to discuss your requirements and speak with our experts.

Explore the latest announcements from reinsurers on rate cuts and increased capacity – and what insights they provide into your insurance market outlook for 2026.

The January treaty reinsurance renewals are one of the few moments each year when the market shows its hand in public: which direction is pricing moving, where is capacity growing, and which terms are sticking.

In 2026, the message is clear. Conditions are continuing to soften, and buyers have more leverage.

The catch is that “cheaper” doesn’t automatically mean “better”. Working with a specialist London market broker like Costero Brokers helps you turn favourable market conditions into optimal outcomes: the right structure, the right wording, and the right capacity behind it.

Understanding the January reinsurance renewals

January 1^st is the biggest annual renewal date in reinsurance. Almost all global reinsurance contracts will renew during this period, across all classes of business and specialty lines.

Treaty reinsurance is the primary tool used by insurance companies to provide them with portfolio-level protection (both proportional and non-proportional) against earnings volatility. It helps them guard against and reduce the impact of market-wide events, and when speaking about Property D&F, this will usually mean large CAT events such as hurricanes.

Key insights from the 2026 treaty market.

The renewal reports and market commentary that come out in early January shape expectations for the year ahead, and the themes this year are:

• Rates are down significantly across most major specialty lines.
• Capacity is increasing through traditional sources, private equity, and soft-follow.
• Attachment/retention discipline is currently stable and is not yet seeing any significant change.
• Coverages being widened through flexibility on sublimits or extensions.
• (Re)insurers want growth, and willing to trade aggressively or enter new areas to achieve this.

This is exactly the intelligence you need if you’re deciding whether to buy a higher limit, expand your coverages, restructure your retentions or build a facility.

Why London matters more in 2026: flexibility and bespoke solutions

All this creates a tremendous opportunity around the London market in 2026. There has never been more capacity in London, and the market is more flexible than ever.

This is reflected not just in price, but in how deals are structured. The flexibility allows for more movement in deductibles, limits, conditions and coverages.

Carriers are having to compete aggressively just to protect their own positions, with many of them also offering new products to achieve growth. Sophisticated buyers can benefit from the market’s willingness to offer unique tailor-made solutions.

Accelerating due to the market conditions, is the growth of ‘soft follow capacity’; automatic capacity that will follow the lead underwriter’s terms with minimal to zero additional negotiation. This speeds up the placement process and maintains the competitive tension between existing and new carriers.

How Costero Brokers can help you in the 2026 insurance market

If you’re starting to see the 2026 market conditions as an opportunity, you’re not wrong. Costero Brokers can help you to:

• Translate the softening market not just into lower premiums but into a better programme for you and your clients.
• Access London and Lloyd’s capacity efficiently, especially where you need bespoke wordings, specialist appetites, or cross-class solutions.
• Create facilities that fit your requirements (bulking, non-bulking, line slips or binders).
• Present your risk so you’re treated as a “preferred client” and get the most out of the London market.

The overarching theme is that in 2026, pricing is moving in your favour. The best outcomes will go to buyers who show up prepared, use London intelligently, and treat structure as a strategic lever rather than a paperwork exercise. In all these areas, Costero Brokers can make all the difference to your success.

Take your next step in the 2026 insurance market

If you want to talk through what the 2026 treaty renewals mean for your business, whether that’s lowering cost, buying more cover, building a facility, or launching a new product, get in touch with Costero Brokers and speak to our team.

We’ll help you turn today’s market conditions into capacity and coverage that makes sense now, and into the future.

Contact our experts at Costero Brokers.

With 2025 drawing to a close, economic shifts, geopolitical dynamics, natural catastrophes and technological developments are influencing risks and opportunities for insurers and brokers worldwide. As we navigate an ever-evolving insurance landscape, this report provides a concise overview of key trends and developments shaping the global insurance market today – and into 2026.

The UK and Global Economy

• UK economy – Inflation is easing, but growth is fragile: Official data published in November showed UK CPI for October, with services still a key watchpoint. Against a backdrop of weak momentum, UK monthly GDP for October was reported as down 0.1%, reinforcing the “slow-growth” narrative that matters for exposure bases, credit conditions and litigation frequency assumptions. (Sources: ONS, Reuters)
• UK rates – BoE holds Bank Rate at 4%: In its November decision, the Bank of England’s MPC voted 5–4 to maintain Bank Rate at 4%. For insurers, the implications remain two-sided: higher yields continue to support investment income and discounting, while uncertainty around the path of rates and growth keeps pressure on reserving assumptions, asset-liability management and demand-sensitive lines. (Source: Bank of England)
• UK Autumn Budget – Stability, inflation impact, and a small IPT change to watch: The Chancellor delivered the much-anticipated Budget on 26 November. The OBR forecast that Budget measures would reduce CPI inflation by around 0.3 percentage points in 2026.” For insurers, easing inflation helps on claims-cost pressure at the margin (especially where wage/service inflation matters), but any boost is tempered by weak underlying growth and continued sensitivity to the rate path. Tax policy decisions were forecast to raise GBP £26.6 billion by 2030/31, keeping affordability and consumer/SME resilience front of mind for personal lines retention and SME purchasing behaviour. Finally, while the standard rate of Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) remains 12%, the Budget included a targeted change. IPT at 12% will apply to insurance on new vehicle leases through qualifying motor vehicle leasing schemes from July 2026, which may be relevant for fleet/leasing channels and affected customer cohorts. (Sources: HM Treasury, OBR, House of Lords, UK)
• US economy – Fed eases again, but signals a cautious path into 2026: In December, the Federal Reserve cut the federal funds target range to 3.50%–3.75%, citing a shift in the balance of risks and reiterating that further moves will depend on incoming data. For insurers and reinsurers, the message is still mixed. Easing policy can support economic activity and some lines’ exposure bases, while the level of rates remains meaningful for investment income, discounting, and (in long-tail classes) the interaction between rate-path assumptions and reserving. (Sources: Federal Reserve, Reuters).

Insurance Industry Developments

• Commercial pricing – Broad softening continues, with pockets of firmness: Indexes continue to show year-on-year declines in average commercial rates, with property and financial/professional lines generally softer than casualty for complex and loss-exposed accounts. The likely outcome is more choice of lead terms in many classes, but less flexibility where aggregation, nat cat, or severe loss potential dominates. (Source: Marsh)
• UK regulation – Capital reforms continue to open investment pathways (with guardrails): In October, the PRA finalised its Matching Adjustment Investment Accelerator (MAIA) framework, designed to reduce barriers to timely and capital-efficient insurer investment (while keeping prudential constraints). For life and annuity writers (and their reinsurers), this matters because asset strategy feeds directly into pricing competitiveness and demand for certain forms of funded reinsurance and capital solutions. (Source: Bank of England/PRA)

• London market positioning – Underwriting appetite and “licence to operate” debates continue: Lloyd’s leadership messaging in Q4 continued to emphasise the market’s “apolitical” stance and the breadth of risks it supports, including energy—an issue that continues to attract external scrutiny as ESG requirements diverge by jurisdiction. (Source: Financial Times)

Underwriting Performance

• US P&C results – Cat remains the swing factor: Major US carriers again highlighted that catastrophe and weather volatility continues to drive quarterly noise, even where underlying attritional performance improves. For buyers, this translates into continued underwriting focus on construction quality, secondary perils, and credible mitigation evidence at renewal. (Sources: Chubb, Travelers)
• Underwriting for cyber – benign market pricing vs. persistent systemic worry: A notable Q4 theme is the tension between continued softening in many cyber rate environments and concern about aggregation, contingent business interruption.(BI) and systemic events. High-profile incidents have produced significant claims, but not enough (yet) to re-harden the entire market. (Source: S&P Global)

Tech, Cyber and AI Developments

• UK cyber claims – Severity is rising: The UK industry reported GBP £197 million paid in cyber claims in 2024 (triple the prior year), with ransomware/malware featuring prominently in claim drivers. This is useful context for business leaders still treating cyber insurance as only an ‘optional extra’. (Source: ABI)
• AI security – ‘prompt injection’ is being treated as a structural risk, not a patchable bug: The UK NCSC warned that cyber attacks injecting malicious text prompts into AI systems may not be fully mitigable in the way the industry learned to mitigate classic SQL injection vulnerabilities. For insurers, this starts to matter in underwriting controls. Vendor security questionnaires, model governance, and insured AI-enabled workflow dependencies are becoming more material in cyber and PI submissions. (Sources: NCSC, TechRadar)
• EU AI Act – Obligations for general-purpose AI providers are now in application: The European Commission published guidance in October clarifying obligations for providers of general-purpose AI models under the AI Act. Even for non-EU headquartered firms, this is increasingly relevant through supply chains, contract clauses and product governance expectations. (Source: European Commission)

Reinsurance Market

• Renewals – Competitive conditions, with rate decreases discussed: Early December commentary from market participants pointed to reinsurance supply outpacing demand in several segments, with discussions of 10–15% decreases in some areas (notably where loss experience and attachment structure support it). As ever, outcomes remain granular – loss-affected programmes, trapped collateral issues and high-risk layers can behave very differently. (Source: Reinsurance News)
• ILS / Cat bonds – Record 2025 issuance keeps alternative capital central for peak perils: Catastrophe bonds continued to play a major role in reinsurance capacity as sponsors diversified away from purely traditional markets. By late November 2025, tracked 144A cat bond issuance had passed USD $20 billion for the year (with total settled issuance including private deals above that level), underlining sustained investor appetite and giving buyers another route to manage peak-peril aggregation and portfolio volatility. (Sources: Financial Times, Artemis, Aon Securities)

Natural Catastrophes

• Loss totals – Elevated insured losses remain a defining feature: Global insured losses for the first nine months of 2025 were estimated at around USD $105 billion, again dominated by weather-related events and underscoring the “high-frequency, high-severity” environment that’s shaping pricing, terms and aggregate management. (Source: Gallagher Re)
• Caribbean wind / floods – Hurricane highlights sovereign and private-sector recovery funding needs: After Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica in October, resulting in losses estimated at USD $10 billion, the island nation secured up to USD $6.7 billion in international funding for reconstruction. Reports on the post-event funding package noted the very large damage estimates and the role for pre-arranged disaster-risk financing (including insurance mechanisms) in providing immediate liquidity. (Source: Reuters)
• US severe convective storms (SCS) – The secondary-peril discussion continues: Market reporting again pointed to very high US SCS loss activity, reinforcing why attachment points, deductibles, and granular exposure management are becoming central even outside traditional hurricane zones. (Source: Wall Street Journal)

Geopolitical Risks

• Marine war-risk – Premiums can move rapidly as threat perceptions shift: Black Sea war-risk premiums were being quoted around 0.6%–1% of vessel value for some calls in early December, with underwriters reviewing terms daily. For insureds, the operational effect of this uncertainty is not just hull/cargo cost – it’s also routing problems, delays, contractual penalties and contingent business interruption (BI). (Source: Reuters)
• Security as a regulatory theme: UK regulatory leadership messaging continues to stress that international geopolitical security considerations are increasingly intertwined with financial system resilience. This is relevant for sanctions compliance, supply-chain exposures, and the treatment of defence-related risks across insurance and capital markets. (Source: FCA)

Looking ahead: Market needs and insurance “gaps”

Below we highlight a few areas where demand is expected to outpace existing insurance solutions in 2026 and beyond – where product innovation, clearer wordings, and London-market backed structures will be critical.

• Power for AI and data centres – The SMR insurance opportunity: Electricity demand forecasts linked to data centres are growing, and recent reports highlight the scale of the challenge for power generation and grids. A favoured solution is locally distributed nuclear energy, in the form of small modular reactors (SMRs). As SMR investment moves from policy and financing into delivery, the insurance market will need to keep pace across construction, marine transit, operational all-risks, liability, environmental impairment, business interruption and (critically) integrated project risk across multi-year build programmes. There is a particular need for coherent, London-market backed placements that combine specialist engineering, nuclear and supply-chain expertise. (Sources: WTW, Reuters)
• Cyber systemic risk – Expanding coverage without expanding tail risk blindly: Claim severity signals and continued incident frequency sit awkwardly alongside a soft pricing environment. The likely gap is not “more cyber cover” in general, but better-structured cover: clearer contingent BI triggers, more explicit coverage for critical dependencies, and credible pathways to systemic risk-sharing (pooling/reinsurance/ILS) that don’t leave individual carriers holding unpriceable aggregation. (Sources: ABI, S&P Global)
• Climate adaptation and resilience finance – Narrowing the protection gap: With insured losses remaining elevated, there is increasing interest in parametric solutions, resilience-linked structures, and public-private mechanisms – especially for flood, heat and secondary perils where traditional indemnity approaches struggle to scale quickly. (Source: Gallagher Re)

Let’s discuss your way forward

As always, if you’d like to talk through what any of these themes mean for your 2026 placement strategy – whether you’re a broker, MGA, carrier, reinsurer or insurtech – we’re keen to discuss your goals and how we can help.

For more detailed analysis and resources, visit our website or contact us.

Disclaimer:

This market report was developed for reference only, and any prospective statements about possible future events or performance are based on developing factors regarding economic and business activity relevant to financial and insurance markets. Such prospective statements involve risk as actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied due to future changes in relevant factors. We are not responsible for the accuracy of the third-party information cited herein and undertake no obligation to update any such data or prospective statements, nor do we in any way intend to provide legal, financial, or insurance advice regarding any existing or future litigation or other matter discussed or projected herein. Please seek the advice of your own professional advisors or counsel regarding your specific circumstances.

Across the world, MGAs, InsurTechs, and coverholders are seeking ways to remain agile as customer expectations shift and specialty risks become increasingly complex. Yet finding dependable capacity, particularly for non-standard or catastrophe-exposed business, remains one of the industry’s most persistent challenges.

Working with the right specialist Lloyd’s broker can be a defining advantage. This article explores how the Lloyd’s market offers opportunities that domestic carriers often cannot match, and how Costero’s Global Specialty team helps turn challenging portfolios into scalable, long-term programmes.

Where Standard Markets Stop – Specialty Insurance Starts:

Specialty risks often sit outside traditional rating models or standard wordings. You may be dealing with:

• Catastrophe-exposed or non-standard property: U.S. coastal wind, European flood zones, REO portfolios, high-value homes, mixed-use real estate.
• Complex commercial risks: chemical-handling facilities, hospitality portfolios, distressed assets or unusual occupancies.
• Emerging and specialty classes: SME cyber, renewable energy, professional lines, affinity programmes, and A&H—often distributed via MGAs or digital platforms.

These scenarios typically require:

• Greater line size flexibility
• Bespoke, expert-driven wordings
• Multi-territory and multi-discipline capability

In short: specialty insurance provides solutions where domestic markets may not be positioned to respond fully.

The Lloyd’s Delegated Authority Environment: More Capacity, Greater Nuance

Even in a period of increasing global capacity, the specialty landscape remains complex. Current market themes include:

• Elevated nat-cat volatility: Insured catastrophe losses reached approximately USD $80 billion in H1 2025, the second highest first-half total on record (Source: Swiss Re).
• Pricing easing from a high base: Global commercial rates decreased around 4% in Q2–Q3 2025, reflecting stronger competition after several years of increases (Source: Marsh).
• Reinsurance shifts: Property-catastrophe reinsurance pricing saw an estimated 8% risk-adjusted decrease over the prior year, though still above historical levels (Source: Howden).

There is more capacity in the market—but it remains selective, data-led and focused on sustainability. This is where the unique characteristics of Lloyd’s become invaluable.

Why Domestic Markets Often Cannot Meet Specialty Needs

Across North America, Europe, the UK and Australasia, domestic insurers frequently face structural limitations when handling specialty risks:

• Narrow appetites on catastrophe-exposed or non-standard property
• Capacity ceilings that restrict the ability to support large or complex portfolios
• Limited product flexibility for affinity, embedded or tech-enabled models
• Slower decision-making on off-template or innovative propositions

This is why so much specialty business gravitates toward Excess & Surplus (E&S) markets and why brokers increasingly turn to Lloyd’s, where specialist underwriting expertise and global licensing create a broader spectrum of solutions.

What the London Market and Lloyd’s Offer

The London Market remains the world’s leading centre for specialty and commercial risk, writing roughly USD $160 billion in premium annually (Source: London Market Group).

Within this ecosystem, Lloyd’s provides:

• A global licensing network: around 80 direct licences and reinsurance access in 200+ territories.
• A-rated, ring-fenced capital: ideal for delegated authority and programme business.
• Deep specialist expertise: with syndicates that understand niche classes and distribution models.
• A uniquely physical marketplace: enabling brokers to meet multiple underwriters in a day and negotiate solutions in real time.

To unlock this value, however, firms need a Lloyd’s broker who understands which syndicates have the right appetite, how to structure enduring facilities, and how to position portfolios effectively for long-term support.

How Costero’s Global Specialty Team Helps You Win

Costero has a Global Specialty division dedicated specifically to the evolving needs of MGAs, coverholders, brokers and InsurTechs.

Experience and relationships that matter:

• Experienced team with extensive expertise in Specialty and Delegated Authority.
• Long-standing relationships across 80+ Lloyd’s syndicates, the wider London company market, and leading carriers in Europe, Australia, Bermuda and the U.S.
• As an independent, 60-person Lloyd’s broker, Costero offers the scale to secure meaningful capacity while remaining agile, collaborative and highly client-focused.

Delegated Authority Designed for Scalable Growth

Our capabilities span:

• Property & Casualty (including wildfire, flood, earthquake, wind)
• Energy
• Professional Lines (PI, D&O, FI, Crime)
• Cyber, Affinity, Accident & Health

We specialise in structuring and managing profitable binding authorities across the U.S., Canada, the UK, Europe and Australia including large, distributed portfolios requiring sophisticated data handling.

Our focus: transforming risks into credible, coherent portfolios that resonate with specialist underwriters.

Supporting Your Development as a Lloyd’s Coverholder

Whether you’re launching an MGA, expanding into new classes, or scaling internationally, we guide clients through:

• The Lloyd’s coverholder approval and onboarding process
• Introductions to aligned syndicates
• Binder structuring, optimisation and multi-year facility design

With Lloyd’s increasingly emphasising coherent programme-based delegated authority business, strong broker guidance is critical to long-term delegated authority success.

Agile, Relationship-Driven Service

Specialty business often with annual GWP of USD $5m–$100m are central to Costero’s identity, not a peripheral segment. Clients work directly with senior brokers who own their relationships and deliver:

• Swift turnaround and clear, consistent communication
• High-quality data and reporting for regulators, carriers and internal teams
• Seamless collaboration with Costero’s open-market specialists where needed

Our team supports ongoing portfolio performance management, ensuring data quality, compliance, and transparency that align with Lloyd’s evolving oversight standards.

Preparing for the Future of Specialty Insurance

Looking to 2026 and beyond, several trends are reshaping specialty distribution:

• Catastrophe patterns and secondary perils continue to challenge standard appetites (Source: Swiss Re).
• Although pricing is softening, underwriters are prioritising portfolio quality and sustainability (Source: Howden).
• MGAs, coverholders and InsurTechs are taking an expanded role in distribution (Source: Lloyd’s).

To thrive, you need not only access to Lloyd’s—but a broker fully immersed in delegated authority and specialty markets.

Costero’s Global Specialty Team: Your Partner in Growth

If you’re looking to place complex property exposures, build a specialty programme, or scale a delegated authority platform, we’re here to help.

To discuss your portfolio or explore Lloyd’s opportunities, connect with:
Ollie Daws and Olivia Tallarida, Global Specialty, Costero Brokers.

Discover the key advantages of gaining coverholder status at Lloyd’s of London – and how working with Costero Brokers can accelerate the process.

If you’re building or scaling an MGA, winning capacity and distribution is half the battle. Becoming a Lloyd’s coverholder gives you a powerful route to achieve this – unlocking global licences, diverse syndicate capacity and long-term resilience. Working with an expert like Costero means you can get approved quickly and keep growing confidently. Below, we’ll unpack the key benefits, the market context for 2025, and how our specialist team helps MGAs and InsurTechs navigate the process at an accelerated pace.

Challenges that MGAs face in today’s market

For ambitious MGAs, particularly in North America and Australasia, the opportunities are clear – but so are the challenges:

• Selective capacity and changing appetites: Carriers are disciplined on new programmes, want clear evidence of underwriting control and credible data, and can pivot appetite quickly after CAT seasons or loss events. Securing the right limits at sustainable terms – and keeping them through the cycle – is a constant challenge.
• Continuity risk when you rely on a single market: If one partner re-sizes or exits a class, your product and distribution can be disrupted at short notice. Building resilience into your capacity model is no longer a nice-to-have.
• Cross-border growth friction: Expanding beyond one jurisdiction means navigating different licences, taxes, policy wordings and regulatory reporting – all while maintaining a consistent product and client experience.
• Speed to market vs. governance: Retail partners and customers expect rapid launches and iterative enhancements, yet you also need robust oversight: underwriting guidelines, audit trails, bordereaux quality, conduct risk controls and claims oversight that stand up to scrutiny.
• Data expectations have risen: Capacity providers expect clean, timely, reconciled data on premium, exposure and claims – with management information (MI) that supports pricing and portfolio steering. Weaknesses in data pipelines or bordereaux management can slow or stall growth.
• Distribution credibility: Retail brokers and other distribution partners look for paper strength, rating credibility and product stability. Start-ups and scale-ups must prove their staying power to win shelf space.
• Claims experience and customer outcomes: Delivering fair, prompt claims handling – whether in-house or via a third-party administrator (TPA) – is mission-critical for reputation and renewal performance, yet operationally demanding to evidence and manage.
• Macro volatility: Inflation, supply-chain costs and secondary perils are still influencing loss trends and capital charges, putting pressure on rate adequacy and available capacity.

To address these challenges, your MGA needs dependable, diversified capacity; the ability to scale across multiple territories under a single market framework; and the operational discipline and brand credibility that help you win distribution – setting up your programme for durable growth.

What is a Lloyd’s coverholder – and why become one?

Lloyd’s of London is the world’s leading marketplace for specialty risk—where MGAs and InsurTechs can access A-rated capacity, global licensing reach, and decisive underwriting partners to build, launch and scale programmes with confidence.

The market backdrop is constructive but disciplined. Lloyd’s delivered another profitable year in 2024 (combined ratio 86.9%) while still growing top-line by 6.5% – a signal of healthy appetite for well-governed, data-driven programmes. For MGAs with credible distribution and controls, that’s an opening to launch or expand with strong partners. (Source: Lloyd’s)

A Lloyd’s coverholder is a company authorised by a Lloyd’s managing agent to enter into insurance contracts on behalf of a syndicate under a Binding Authority agreement. That agreement defines exactly what you can quote, bind, and administer – including issuing documents, collecting premium and, where granted, handling claims. (Source: Lloyd’s)

There are now around 2,950 approved Lloyd’s coverholders globally, creating a mutually beneficial ecosystem. For Lloyd’s, coverholders enable a vital distribution channel that lets its syndicates underwrite locally without building local infrastructure. For you, becoming a coverholder empowers your business to scale and access new opportunities –  with Lloyd’s brand and strength behind you. (Source: Lloyd’s)

The top 5 benefits of becoming a Lloyd’s coverholder

• Access to diverse capacity in one market: Instead of relying on a single carrier, you can assemble a panel across 70+ Lloyd’s syndicates, each with different appetites and strengths – from CAT-exposed property to niche casualty and emerging risks – then build products that reflect your strategy. That creates more opportunity for higher limits, broader structure and robust pricing as you grow.
• Global licensing and scalable distribution: Lloyd’s licences in about 80 territories mean you can design multi-jurisdictional programmes efficiently, often via one contract framework (with local policy issuance where required). That gives you the opportunity to focus on more than just one territory, with the ability to cater for multiple jurisdictions under the same binding authority.
• Bigger limits and broader product scope: Because you can blend multiple markets on a slip (e.g., six or seven syndicates backing a binder), you’re able to stack capacity and widen appetite – for example, running separate binders for flood and wildfire, or adding a new peril without rebuilding everything from scratch. To your retailers and insureds, it feels seamless – while behind the scenes, you’ve built a balanced panel.
• Continuity through market cycles: If one participant changes strategy (say, stepping back from US hurricane), your panel approach makes continuity far more achievable. Others can often increase shares while you introduce a new partner at renewal – protecting your book and your distribution relationships.
• Brand, governance and product innovation: You benefit from the Lloyd’s brand and ratings, plus market infrastructure geared to innovation – including programmes and initiatives like the Lloyd’s Product Launchpad to pilot novel covers with lead syndicates before scaling. It’s a proven path for InsurTechs turning new data or risk models into capacity-backed products.

How Costero makes your coverholder approval easier and faster

To become a Lloyd’s coverholder, you need many elements in place. You need to work closely with a sponsoring Lloyd’s-registered broker (such as Costero) and a Lloyd’s managing agent. You need a clear business plan, robust systems, compliant money handling, experienced key staff and the right cover for your own professional indemnity / errors and omissions (E&O). Done well, today’s coverholder application process is far quicker than it used to be – but only if everything is complete and aligned.

This is where our expertise and relationships come in. Costero is a specialist Lloyd’s registered binder broker with a streamlined, hands-on approach for MGAs and InsurTechs worldwide. We help you shape the business plan, align underwriting guidelines, utilise data effectively, identify the right syndicate partners, and then manage the compliance, placement and renewal cycle day-to-day. Our team can typically secure coverholder approval in as little as two months, once the business plan and supporting materials are ready. We’ve built our expertise by placing dozens of delegated contracts, and managing the monthly bordereaux, premium flow and TPA interactions. That means you can stay focused on distribution and underwriting while we keep the machine running smoothly.

Licensing, appetite, capacity, and continuity are key advantages we see successful MGAs capitalise on – and we help you structure for all these from day one.

Take your next step to Lloyd’s coverholder success

Costero have worked on seven new Lloyd’s coverholder applications in the last 12 months so are extremely well versed in the process and what is involved from start to finish.

Discover how our Binders & Programmes team  can help you accelerate to the next level as a Lloyd’s coverholder with our fast-track application process.

To learn more, please get in touch with our expert James Gadbury at Costero Brokers.

Learn why specialist cover is needed to protect industry against property damage from cyber-physical risk – and how Costero Brokers can help.

Cyber incidents are no longer only about stolen data and IT downtime. As more machines, buildings and infrastructure are controlled by software and connected to the internet, a digital intrusion can cause very real-world harm for organisations and industries: damaged equipment, halted production and complex liabilities. In this article, we explain how those risks are evolving, what recent incidents tell us, how cyber and property insurance policies are changing, and how working with Costero Brokers can help you build cover that truly fits the risk.

Hacking into the real world: when a cyber event damages physical assets

All kinds of industrial organisations, including factories, energy facilities, rail and logistics operators increasingly run on connected control systems. That connectivity brings new levels of efficiency – but also new exposure of physical systems to cyber attacks. There are now more than 18 billion connected devices globally, projected to rise to 40 billion by 2030, hugely expanding the number of targets attackers can exploit. (Source: IoT Analytics)

Security data from industrial environments shows increasing cyber-probing and malware activity against systems that manage or support physical processes. Researchers recently recorded attacks being detected against roughly a fifth of industrial computers they monitor worldwide – demonstrating that physical systems, infrastructure and property are attractive targets for cyber criminals. (Source: [Kaspersky)

All of this is happening while many traditional business property insurance policies have added new cyber exclusions or fine-print limitations. Unless you have explicit, written cover for property damage caused by a cyber event, there is a risk of a protection gap.

Warnings from real-world cyber-physical incidents

Over the past decade, the frequency and scale of cyber-physical attacks on industrial infrastructure and operations have increased worryingly:

• Germany, 2014: An industrial steel mill was attacked by cyber criminals. Germany’s federal cyber authority reported that attackers entered via an office network before accessing plant controls, preventing a blast furnace from shutting down properly and causing massive damage. (Source: BBC News)
• Ukraine, 2016: Power grid industrial control systems (ICS) were targeted with specially developed malware. Investigators found that the ‘Crash Override / Industroyer’ malware was built to interfere with protective relays – an approach designed to damaged critical power equipment. (Source: CISA)
• Middle East, 2017: ‘Triton’ malware was used to target safety systems at an unidentified industrial facility, forcing a shutdown to avoid a potential catastrophe. The case proved that attackers were willing to aim at the controls designed to stop fires and explosions at nuclear, oil and gas power plants. (Source: The Guardian)
• Norway, 2019: A ransomware attack disrupted Norsk hydro’s global aluminium operations and cost the company around USD $75 million. The incident provides a clear example of the knock-on costs incurred when highly automated industrial plants are forced into manual operations by a cyber attack. (Source: Computer Weekly)
• USA, 2021: A hacker used remote access software to take control of safety systems at a water treatment plant in Oldsmar, Florida. The cyber intruder briefly changed the chemical dosing set-point to a dangerous level, but fortunately a vigilant operator reversed it in time. This was a near-miss with obvious implications not only for property damage, but also for public safety. (Source: Wired)

How cyber insurance policies are changing – and what you should look for

In recent years, insurance industry supervisors and the London market have pushed insurers to address “silent cyber” – the uncertainty about whether a policy might respond to a cyber-triggered loss. Insurers are encouraged to do this by either clearly covering or clearly excluding cyber causes of loss. That has led many property policies to adopt cyber exclusions or very narrow “write-backs”, unless you purchase explicit cyber-physical property damage cover.

Language around state-backed cyber attacks has also tightened. Lloyd’s now expects robust wording when policies address such events, with clear parameters on what is and isn’t covered. The exact definitions and any carve-backs matter – and can differ by market.

Some organisations are now pairing a traditional cyber policy (for IT-led incidents) with clear, written cover for property damage and business interruption caused by a cyber event. Sometimes that is done by reinstating cover within the property policy via endorsement; in other cases, it’s placed as a dedicated cyber-property damage product or via reinsurance. The right answer depends on your operations, suppliers and tolerance for loss.

Working with an expert in cyber property damage risk

Whether you’re an insurer, broker or business leader, you need a partner who understands both cyber threats and how physical assets are insured – like Costero Brokers. We design fit-for-purpose, broad and competitively priced programmes at Lloyd’s of London and international markets, working closely with leading global reinsurers. We help you map real-world loss scenarios across production lines, utilities, logistics and building systems, and then build wordings and limits that fit that risk profile.

For brokers, we’ll co-create client-ready submissions that align property, cyber and any reinsurance layers so coverage gaps are closed and the claims pathway is clear. For corporate buyers, we can work with your operations, safety and technology teams to reflect the controls you actually have – segmentation, backups, and safety shutdowns – so underwriters can price the true risk.

Introducing Costero’s new cyber property damage insurance solution

Costero’s exclusive cyber property damage solution – developed with leading Lloyd’s of London syndicates – is built to close the protection gap created by modern wordings. It offers:

• Affirmative cover when a malicious cyber event causes physical damage and business interruption – addressing the hole in traditional policies.
• Access to substantial market capacity (USD $250 million+) across primary and excess layers for large or complex risks.
• Multiple deployment options: Reinstate cyber cover within an all-risks property policy via endorsement, place a combined programme spanning “traditional” cyber and cyber-physical damage, or use reinsurance structures if you’re a carrier seeking to offer this cover to your own clients.

We focus where the exposure is most material – in sectors such as manufacturing, energy, power, mining, pharmaceuticals, rail, transportation and logistics – and we tailor wordings to your operations and geographies.

Ready to close the cyber property damage gap?

If you want to protect your clients – or your own organisation – against cyber-physical losses, talk to us. Costero can help you put a specialist cyber property damage programme in place that fits today’s risk, aligns with market developments, and scales with each organisation’s growth.

Whether you’re an insurer, broker, or business decision-maker, now is the time to evaluate new options in cyber-physical property damage cover. Contact Costero’s Cyber, Media and Technology insurance team today to explore how we can help you.

To find out more and discuss your goals, please get in touch with our expert Jonathan Olley at Costero Brokers.

Welcome to Costero Brokers’ quarterly report on the State of the Global Insurance Market for Q3 2025.

As the year continues, economic shifts, geopolitical dynamics, natural catastrophes and technological developments are influencing risks and opportunities for insurers and brokers worldwide. As we navigate an ever-evolving insurance landscape, this report provides a concise overview of key trends and developments shaping the global insurance market today,

The UK and Global Economy

• UK economy: Inflation is easing only slowly; with most rates on hold. UK consumer price inflation (CPI) was 3.8% year-on-year in August, unchanged from July. Services inflation remains sticky. The Bank of England (BoE) held the Bank Rate at 4.0% on 17 September and scaled back the pace of quantitative tightening (gilt sales) for the coming year. For insurance balance sheets, that means “higher-for-longer” discount and reinvestment yields, but no rapid fall in claims inflation. (Sources: UK Office for National Statistics, Bank of England)
• US economy: Disinflation continues, while the Fed trims rates. US CPI rose 2.9% in August (core CPI 3.1%). The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) cut the policy rate by 0.25% on 17 September, setting the federal funds target range at 4.00%–4.25%. Policymakers described the move as a risk-management step amid softer labour data. For insurers, the combination of decent carry and slightly easier policy has kept bond market volatility contained. (Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Reserve)
• Global economy: Growth is steady but risks are two-sided. A recent update from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) put 2025 global GDP growth at ~3.0%, noting tariff uncertainty and geopolitics as the main downside risks. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) points to resilience for 2025 but warns that the full tariff impact has not yet shown up in data. (Sources: IMF, Reuters)

Insurance Industry Developments

• UK insurance market: S&P Global Ratings says UK carriers are navigating a tougher backdrop shaped by economic uncertainty, regulatory change and ongoing consolidation. In life insurance, demand is stable to rising, supported by a buoyant pension risk transfer pipeline as strong defined-benefit funding and higher gilt yields make deals attractive. Increasing numbers of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are unlikely to change industry structure in the near term. By contrast, property & casualty (P&C) faces greater pressure: while recent rate rises improved results in some retail lines, abundant capacity and robust competition are pushing commercial pricing down. S&P judges any profitability boost in P&C as temporary with margins likely to come under strain over time. (Source: Reinsurance News)
• Global commercial pricing: Markets are softer overall, with casualty still firmer. Marsh’s Global Insurance Market Index shows global commercial insurance rates fell 4% in Q2 2025, the fourth consecutive quarterly decline. That tone carried into many Q3 placements, particularly for property and financial lines. Large and loss-exposed casualty accounts remained firmer. (Source: Marsh)
• UK regulation: Climate risk supervision is tightening. The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is consulting on CP10/25, its paper updating expectations on climate-related governance, scenario analysis and management information for banks and insurers. This signals deeper, evidence-based supervision through 2026. (Source: Bank of England/PRA)

Underwriting Performance

• Lloyd’s H1 2025 results: Profit and robust solvency despite higher major losses. Lloyd’s of London reported £32.5bn gross written premium, £4.2bn profit before tax, and a 92.5% combined ratio (CR) for H1, with the underlying CR at 82.1% once major losses are excluded. The market-wide solvency ratio stood at 206%. California wildfire losses in Q1 were the main difference to last year’s unusually low major-loss period. (Source: Lloyd’s)
• US P&C: Combined ratio improved in Q2 after a tough Q1. A report from the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) and market analyst Verisk notes that industry results stabilised in Q2 after severe Q1 losses, with secondary perils and private passenger auto severity still key watch-points. (Source: Verisk/APCIA)

Tech, Cyber and AI Developments

• Ransomware remains highly disruptive: A ransomware attack at aviation software supplier Collins Aerospace disrupted airport operations across parts of Europe in late September, highlighting dependent-business-interruption risk for airlines, airports and their partners. The cyber incident resulted in days of check-in system disruption and manual workarounds, although the level of insured loss is still unclear. (Source: Reuters)
• Cyber claims mix: New portfolio data shared by market participants shows that ransomware now accounts for the majority of incurred cyber losses in many books; where losses occur, severities are trending higher even as overall claim counts fluctuate. (Source: Insurance Journal)
• Emerging cyber risks: Supply-chain and vendor attacks are rising fast. Third-party compromises have doubled year-on-year, according to recent reporting, shifting security focus to software bills of materials (SBOMs), multi-factor authentication across vendors, and tighter contract clauses. (Source: Financial Times)
• AI regulation: EU obligations for general-purpose AI are now live. Under the EU AI Act, the first obligations for providers of general-purpose AI (GPAI) models took effect on 2 August 2025 (transparency and copyright-related duties). Models already on the market before that date must comply by August 2027. The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) also published guidance on adapting vulnerability disclosure for AI safeguards. (Sources: Digital Strategy, NCSC)

Reinsurance Market

• Mid-year renewals: Reinsurers see a tilt towards buyers in property-catastrophe. At 1 June and 1 July, multiple brokers reported flat-to-down risk-adjusted rates on property-catastrophe reinsurance, with ample capacity and a measured return of appetite in upper layers. (Sources: Howden Re, Gallagher Re)
• Insurance-linked securities (ILS) and cat bonds: Catastrophe bond issuance set fresh records this year. Artemis now tracks 95 new cat bond/ILS deals so far in 2025, already matching last year’s full-year count – while AM Best sees ILS capacity potentially reaching USD $114bn in 2025. (Sources: Artemis on cat bonds / AM Best)
• Signals from leading reinsurers: Public updates from major reinsurers during Q3 pointed to competitive dynamics at July renewals and selective growth. For example, Munich Re noted price and volume slippage versus 2024 at mid-year but kept its full-year profit target. (Source: Reuters)

Natural Catastrophes

• Global catastrophe losses: In the first half of 2025, natural catastrophe global insured losses reached about USD $80bn, the second-costliest H1 on record, driven largely by US tornados and wildfires. (Source: Reuters)
• US tornados: A mid-September outbreak of severe convective storms (SCS) set new annual tornado records in North Dakota, adding to a year of damaging wind and hail across the US Plains and Midwest. (Source: The Guardian)
• Atlantic hurricanes: As of late September, the North Atlantic season has produced 7 named storms, 2 hurricanes, and 2 major hurricanes, with Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) about 36% below the long-term norm. The recent system of note is Hurricane Gabrielle, intensifying in the open Atlantic and heading toward the Azores. (Source: NOAA)
• Canada wildfires: The Canadian regions of Manitoba and Saskatchewan have been ravaged by a series of over 700 wildfires since May, causing insured losses of around CAD $300 million. (Source: Insurance Bureau of Canada)

Geopolitical Risks

• Shipping war-risk: After deadly attacks in July, war-risk premiums for Red Sea transits more than doubled, with some quotes around 0.7%–1.0% of hull value. In the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz pricing moved to around 0.5% for some voyages during June’s flare-up. These costs have filtered through marine hull, cargo and logistics covers via altered routing, delays and surcharges.(Sources: Reuters on Red Sea / Hormuz)
• Ukraine conflict: Refinery strikes have tightened fuel markets. Ukraine stepped up long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries in September, disrupting around 1 million barrels per day of refining capacity at points and lifting diesel margins. Knock-on effects include higher bunker and diesel cracks and shifting cargo routes. (Sources: Financial Times, Reuters)
• Tariffs and trade: The International Monetary Fund ( IMF flagged tariff risks in July, and recent monitoring shows US effective tariff rates are elevated versus prior years. For trade credit, cargo and political risk underwriters, that means continued scrutiny of counterparties and routes. (Source: IMF)

Looking ahead..

As we enter the final months of 2025, Costero Brokers remains committed to supporting our clients and partners in navigating their challenges. Our expertise and insights are here to help you make informed decisions and seize opportunities in a rapidly changing market.

For more detailed analysis and resources, visit our website or contact us.

Disclaimer:

This market report was developed for reference only, and any prospective statements about possible future events or performance are based on developing factors regarding economic and business activity relevant to financial and insurance markets. Such prospective statements involve risk as actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied due to future changes in relevant factors. We are not responsible for the accuracy of the third-party information cited herein and undertake no obligation to update any such data or prospective statements, nor do we in any way intend to provide legal, financial, or insurance advice regarding any existing or future litigation or other matter discussed or projected herein. Please seek the advice of your own professional advisors or counsel regarding your specific circumstances.

Learn why working with an independent Lloyd’s broker enables agility, innovation and service advantages for insurers accessing the London market.

London’s broker landscape is changing fast. A wave of consolidation has seen many smaller and mid-sized Lloyd’s brokers folded into a handful of global groups. In a market that thrives on speed, relationships and deep expertise, size isn’t everything. As an independent Lloyd’s broker, Costero can move faster, stay closer to you, and tailor solutions without the constraints that can come with public-company or private-equity ownership.

This article explores what’s happening, why it matters to insurers and brokers worldwide, and how working with an independent like Costero gives you a real edge.

The role and value of Lloyd’s brokers

Lloyd’s of London remains the world’s leading marketplace for specialist risk – and Lloyd’s-registered brokers provide its vital interface to the wider insurance industry. The majority of business at Lloyd’s is placed through specialist brokers who match complex client needs with the right underwriting expertise across multiple syndicates—often building subscription placements to deliver the optimal blend of capacity, price and terms. Working with a registered Lloyd’s broker, you gain direct access to a uniquely deep pool of specialist underwriters and products designed for complex or bespoke risks.

Consolidation across Lloyd’s brokers is on the rise

The London market has witnessed a long-term reduction in the number of FCA-regulated brokers since 2006, underscoring how consolidation has reshaped the landscape. (Source: Insurance Times)

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) among Lloyd’s brokers have increased in recent years and, even with a slower 2025, the continuing trend is clear. Corporate advisers report that UK insurance-distribution deal activity in H1 2025 was 35% lower than the same period in 2024 – still dominated by large, market-shaping transactions. (Source: MarshBerry)

The drawbacks of broker consolidation

Large groups can undoubtedly bring resources and global reach. But these shifts of broker ownership and priorities can alter appetites, decision-making and relationships at short notice—especially for clients that rely on long-running programmes or facilities.

The potential drawbacks of large brokerage groups include:

• Shareholder primacy vs client primacy: Listed firms and PE-backed platforms must prioritise investor returns. That can shape service models, incentives and the tolerance for non-standard placements—precisely where many delegated authority and niche programmes live.
• Less agility, more bureaucracy: Consolidation often means layers of management, standardised processes and siloed teams – factors that can slow decisions or dampen creativity for cross-class or unusual structures. When your programme needs a swift endorsement or a claims exception, friction shows up quickly.
• Potential conflicts and “big-account” constraints: When a few groups handle many of the world’s largest buyers and carriers, genuine separation of interests becomes harder in practice; internal guardrails can limit who will place what, and where.

If you run delegated authority and multi-year programme business, you may recognise these frictions: slower responses, changing appetites, and less personal accountability. Workflows handling settlements and claims can stall when operations are fragmented.

The advantages of choosing an independent Lloyd’s broker

Working with an independent Lloyd’s broker like Costero can bring major benefits in many of these areas.

• A personal approach: When you get in touch with us, you deal directly with our expert brokers – the people actually placing your risk. We keep decisions close to our clients and the market, not buried in management layers.
• Responsive service. Speed matters – to bind capacity, issue endorsements and get claims paid. We obsess over the operational details – providing bordereaux reports on time, chasing payments for clients, ensuring notifications are clean – so problems don’t linger. In too many big-broker environments, these basics get lost between teams; we make them a priority across our business.
• Expertise and experience: We’ve carefully hand-picked our team of specialists across jurisdictions and classes – avoiding a “cookie-cutter” approach. Broad contacts, tailored structuring styles, one collaborative ethos. That diversity lets us design placements that reflect your risk reality.
• Agility and flexibility: Because we’re not part of a listed conglomerate or a private equity (PE) roll-up, we can move quickly and build around opportunities, rather than forcing them into a template. If a requirement crosses classes, or sits slightly outside the usual box, we can shape a bespoke solution around it.
• Proactive teamwork: Our culture is deliberately non-siloed. We work closely together, share leads, and combine skills—think cyber with marine, property with financial lines—to solve problems creatively. That cross-pollination is hard to replicate in segmented mega-broker structures.
• Innovative solutions: Independence gives us permission to experiment—new MGA partnerships, bespoke programme architecture, alternative capital—tapping the full Lloyd’s market (and beyond) to craft solutions that suit you, not our org chart. And we do it without a corporate “man-manager” hierarchy – all our key people are expert brokers.

In short, we mix old-school values of trust, respect and integrity with a forward-thinking approach to managing risk. It’s not just our goal –  it’s how we work day to day.

Combine the power of Lloyd’s with the advantages of independence

London is still the best home for complex risk. Despite consolidation among brokers and carriers, choice remains if you know where to look. Competition in the market is evolving, while capacity is reshaping. In this environment, broker independence is an advantage: giving you faster answers, fewer barriers, and intelligent solutions tailored to your portfolio, geographies and growth plans.

Working with Costero means you get a Lloyd’s broker partner who will advocate for your required capacity and move at the pace you need. You’re served by a team that values relationships and delivery over internal politics – with a culture that rewards doing the right thing quickly for our clients. If you’re a broker seeking a nimble London partner, or a carrier looking for a proactive wholesale Lloyd’s broker to grow delegated authority with, discover the advantages we offer.

Talk to Costero about how our independence can work for you—whether that’s building a new binding authority, refreshing your programme, or exploring innovative options for hard-to-place risks. Let’s combine the best of Lloyd’s with the best of independent broking, and deliver results for your clients and your business.

To learn more, please get in touch with us at Costero Brokers.

Explore how technologies like blockchain, cryptocurrency, DeFi, smart contracts, NFTs, AI and Web3 are transforming the business landscape – and how the right cyber insurance can keep organisations trading when things go wrong.

Across every business sector, the way organisations run is shifting onto new kinds of digital infrastructure. Payments that settle on blockchains, customer memberships issued as digital tokens, AI copilots helping teams code, market and serve – and data moving everywhere on cloud platforms. In short, each organisation increasingly relies on digital infrastructure it does not own or fully control. That creates real opportunities — and new points of failure. Here’s how the landscape is evolving, where risks are emerging, and how working with a specialist like Costero Brokers can help you build a tailor-made cyber insurance programme that fits how organisations operate today.

The business landscape is changing fast

Consider the next generation of digital business infrastructure. Customers tap their phone or wristwatch to pay. Business teams collaborate in the cloud. Marketing leans on AI to personalise campaigns. Finance teams explore tokenised assets or crypto rails for faster settlement. This isn’t tomorrow’s world; it’s happening now.

This new infrastructure can create real commercial advantage:

• Speed and automation with smart contracts: Blockchain-based “smart contracts” can automate routine business steps (say, paying a supplier once goods are confirmed), helping cash flow and reducing manual error. For many businesses, this means faster settlement and fewer reconciliations. (Source: IBM)
• Building trust with tokenisation: Tokenised assets and Web3-style memberships can enable 24/7 commerce and new customer engagement models. Global institutions and policymakers are actively exploring tokenisation in payments and capital markets, signalling a durable shift in how value moves. (Source: McKinsey)
• Productivity at scale with AI: For most organisations, AI has rapidly moved from a business experiment to an indispensable enterprise tool. From triaging service tickets to drafting content, AI is now embedded in day-to-day workflows. (Source: UK National Cyber Security Centre)

For most organisations, these benefits are becoming too significant to ignore. The question isn’t if or when businesses will use this next-generation digital infrastructure – it’s how to adopt it safely.

With great digital power comes new risks

While these benefits are considerable, organisations placing reliance on this new digital infrastructure will face new risks and challenges:

• Single points of failure in the tech supply chain: When a critical third-party tool breaks, the knock-on effects can be huge. In July 2024, a faulty update to the widely used CrowdStrike security platform triggered crashes on more than 8 million Windows systems, grounding flights and disrupting banks worldwide. This wasn’t a malicious hack – it was dependency failure at massive scale. (Source: The Verge)
• Losses in crypto/Web3 ecosystems: Poorly designed code, compromised keys or attacks on cross-network bridges and external data oracles can drain funds rapidly from crypto systems. During the first half of 2025, a total of over USD $2 billion worth of cryptocurrency was stolen worldwide – mostly in one mega-heist but also numerous smaller incidents. This underlines that the risk is real for any organisation utilising blockchain and digital assets. (Source: Chainalysis)
• AI-specific exposures: AI can leak sensitive data, enable convincing phishing scams, or infringe IP if not governed well. That’s why governments are publishing secure-by-design guidance and, in the EU, introducing the AI Act with phased compliance. Organisations must now treat AI as a core business capability that needs risk controls – not a side project. (Source: EU AI Act)
• Rising governance expectations. For organisations that operate in or serve the EU financial sector, the new Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) raises the bar on incident reporting, vendor risk and operational resilience. Even outside financial services, board-level cyber accountability is becoming the norm. (Source: EIOPA)

The pattern is clear: business value creation increasingly relies on digital infrastructure, code, data and third party systems. Outages and exploits now translate directly into interrupted revenue, regulatory exposure and brand damage.

How cyber insurance is responding to the changing landscape

The right cyber insurance can be a powerful shock absorber when digital infrastructure stumbles. The market response to a fast-evolving business world has focused on three practical areas:

• Explicit protection for key dependencies: Organisations need to increasingly look for cyber insurance policy wording that responds even when internal systems still work – but a critical third-party (such as cloud, payment gateway, security tool or content delivery network) fails and the business can’t operate. Some markets now offer parametric cover — a transparent, trigger-based approach that pays when, say, a named cloud service suffers defined downtime.
• Clearer treatment of large-scale and state-linked cyber events: Following market guidance, many policies now include model clauses that clarify how state-backed cyber attacks or truly systemic events are handled. Understanding these wordings — and what they mean for your balance sheet — is essential.
• Readiness and response built in: Beyond indemnity, strong cyber programmes should include access to forensics, legal counsel and crisis communications, plus readiness and response preparation. That shortens downtime and helps you meet regulatory timelines in the event of an outage.

How a cyber insurance specialist helps you turn risk into resilience

Costero’s Cyber, Media & Technology (CMT) team is focused on exactly these next-generation exposures. From venture-backed Web3 projects to multinational retailers and financial institutions, we design tailor-made cyber programmes that match how each organisation operates — and where dependencies sit. Cover is placed at Lloyd’s of London, across international markets, and with leading global reinsurers.

We translate tech into business impact. Together we map “where revenue meets risk”: which cloud services, payment rails, security agents, AI/LLM platforms and blockchain providers your operations rely on – and what happens to turnover if each goes down. The key question “What would stop the business trading?” anchors the right limits, sub-limits and deductibles.

We tailor coverage to the real world. Programmes can include:

• Third-party technology failure and dependent-business-interruption cover (including cloud/CDN/payment outages).
• Crypto/Web3 extensions where insurable (for example, theft following private-key compromise, social engineering, post-incident costs).
• AI-related media/IP and privacy cover, plus regulatory defence and investigation costs aligned to regimes like the EU AI Act and DORA.

Find cyber cover for digital business innovation

Whether you’re a business leader, or an insurer or broker with corporate clients, it’s time to explore the latest cyber insurance solutions for exploiting new digital business infrastructure with confidence.

To find out more and discuss your goals, please get in touch with our expert Jonathan Olley at Costero Brokers.

Explore the challenges faced by MGAs and coverholders in protecting commercial property against hurricane, flood and hail risks – and how Costero’s In-House Property Binder and Deductible Buy-Down solutions can help.

If you’re an MGA, insurer, broker or coverholder serving commercial clients along the U.S. Atlantic or Gulf coasts, you know how hard it’s become to secure the right property cover for your clients, at the right terms. Billion-dollar natural disasters are more frequent; deductibles keep creeping up; and properties in different states can have wildly different risk profiles.

In this article, we outline the exposures you’re wrestling with, highlight recent events underscoring the risk, and explain how working with an expert partner like Costero Brokers can help you respond quickly and confidently for your clients – with our In-House Property Binder and Deductible Buy-Down solutions.

The realities of extreme weather exposure for U.S. coastal states

The sheer concentration of people and property along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf shoreline makes coastal losses uniquely impactful. U.S. coastal counties are home to roughly 40% of the nation’s population, despite representing less than 10% of contiguous U.S. land area. (Source: U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – NOAA) That concentration amplifies the consequences when wind, hail and flood strike.

Across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas, New Jersey and New York, the peril mix varies: Gulf states may face more hurricanes and tropical remnants, while Atlantic states face ocean storm surges and nor’easters. And all of these states can suffer disastrous floods, and severe convective storms that drive costly hail and straight-line wind claims.

Recent events underline the scale of extreme weather risk

NOAA’s Billion-Dollar Disasters database shows how frequently these hazards now translate into multi-billion-dollar economic shocks. In 2024, the U.S. suffered 27 separate billion-dollar weather and climate events – the second-highest count on record.

The July 2025 Central Texas floods were a stark reminder that catastrophic events in coastal states are not confined to the immediate coastline. As of late July, media and official tallies reported at least 135 fatalities across multiple counties, with damage to tens of thousands of homes and businesses. The human impact was devastating; the economic impact will echo for years. (Source: Forbes)

From an insurance perspective, several early assessments point to a large gap between total economic losses and insured losses. Analytics firm Cotality estimated about $1.1 billion in damage to residential buildings and roughly $135 million in potential claims to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Reinsurer Aon highlighted that low flood insurance take-up in the hard-hit rural areas would likely limit industry-wide insured losses, even as total economic losses run into the billions. Other sources pegged overall damage (economic, not insured) in the $18–22 billion range. The signal is clear: extreme weather risks such as floods remain dramatically under-insured, and percentage deductibles are leaving many policyholders to carry significant costs on catastrophe claims.(Sources: Insurance Journal, Reinsurance News)

Finding the right property cover for coastal states is challenging

If your clients own commercial property in U.S. coastal states, risk and insurance complexity increase:

• High catastrophe deductibles: Many coastal policies carry percentage deductibles (hurricane, named storm or wind/hail) that can run to several points of Total insurable value (TIV) – materially higher than standard all-perils deductibles. That’s a rational market response to volatility, but it also leaves insureds with significant retained loss on exactly the claims they’re most likely to have.
• Coverage patchiness – especially for flood: The Texas floods once again showed how low insurance take-up in many communities leaves a protection gap that becomes a liquidity crisis after an extreme weather event. Even where NFIP or private-market flood is purchased, deductibles can still be steep.
• Timing and execution risk: In a fast-moving market, you need speed to bind opportunities and retain accounts. Those that can assess and respond quickly win the business; those that can’t, don’t.

Advantages of working with an extreme weather expert in the London market

Working with a Lloyd’s of London market specialist for extreme weather coverage gives you breadth of market and depth of expertise in one place. In 2025, reinsurer appetite has improved, cat-bond and alternative capital issuance are high, and capacity is broadly competitive – yet outcomes still vary by risk quality and how the programme is presented. A partner who understands both U.S. coastal realities and London capacity can shape market interest, structure solutions around hotspots, and accelerate turnaround on quotes.

That’s why working with Costero Brokers makes such a difference to so many leading U.S. MGAs, insurers, brokers and coverholders. Our coastal property team places business directly with Lloyd’s of London syndicates, provides rapid (typically under 24-hour) turnaround on quotes, and brings capacity across U.S. coastal states – with a pragmatic willingness to look at commercial risks within typical coastal proximities. We work through U.S. licensed wholesalers and retailers and focus on solutions that are clear, quick and service-led.

Swift certainty with Costero’s In-House Property Binder

Our In-House Property Binder solution gives you a streamlined route to all-risks and wind-only solutions supported 100% at Lloyd’s of London. In a market where timing matters, having an in-house facility helps you quote and bind quickly, create consistency across a schedule, and access meaningful coastal capacity without having to assemble a new line-up for every placement. For your clients, that can translate into fewer friction points, clearer terms, and a smoother experience.

Because the binder is operated by a team that lives and breathes coastal property, you also get real-world underwriting dialogue: we understand construction class, ROOF age, proximity to water, secondary protections and the other drivers that move the needle with capacity providers. And speedy turnaround of quotes is central to the design of our solution.

Making deductibles manageable with our Deductible Buy-Down solution

Rising catastrophe deductibles will naturally be a pain point for many of your clients. A Deductible Buy-Down lets you reduce that retained loss for defined perils, improving liquidity right when it’s needed most.

Costero’s Deductible Buy-Down facility has operated for years in the U.S. market, supporting buy-downs for wind, hail, flood, earthquake and more. It’s a straightforward indemnity solution that does exactly what it says on the tin – when the peril hits and the base policy responds, the buy-down steps in to shrink the client’s out-of-pocket costs.

Our Deductible Buy-Down solution brings major benefits for your clients and your relationship with them:

• Protect client EBITDA and cash flow: A lower deductible for your client’s extreme weather claim can turn a balance-sheet shock into a manageable hit – especially important for businesses in hurricane belts or hail corridors.
• Support account retention: Giving clients a choice on deductible structure helps you keep the account when base-market terms harden.
• Complement base cover: You can pair a competitively priced base policy (with a higher cat deductible) and then use the buy-down to restore affordability and resilience.
• Capacity in all U.S. States (including Hawaii), from single location to multi state schedules, and most occupancies are considered.

We’re ready to help meet your extreme weather cover challenges

Tell us about your client’s property and we’ll turnaround a quote quickly, working with your preferred wholesale partners. For complex schedules, we can help structure a clear, cohesive placement strategy and layer in a Deductible Buy-Down where it adds the most value. Our aim is simple: strong cover, fast decisions, no drama.

If you’re placing or renewing coastal property this season – particularly along the Gulf and Atlantic seaboard – let’s talk. Reach out to discuss how Costero’s In-House Property Binder and Deductible Buy-Down can help you deliver stronger outcomes for your clients in coastal states.

To learn more about how we can help you navigate the challenges of extreme weather cover, get in touch with our expert, Rob Withers at Costero Brokers.