Lloyd's of London, the United Kingdom-based insurance giant, is looking for ways to enter the Turkish market, as Lord Mayor of the City of London Jeffrey Moutevans hinted in a special press conference in Istanbul on Thursday.
As the world's leading insurance market, Lloyd's' experts and brokers cover more than 200 territories. The company also specializes in reinsurance, which is a practice intended to reduce risks associated with underwritten policies by spreading risks across alternative institutions.
Lloyd's practices extreme examples of insurance, from insuring construction projects to insuring footballers and film stars' appendages. Moutevans noted that Lloyd's would be the one to define their plans in Turkey, but they may establish an office soon, he said. "If Turkey seriously wants to be an international financial center, it would be a huge benefit for Turkey to [enable] Lloyd's to operate in Turkey," said Leigh Turner, consul-general of the U.K. in Istanbul.
The 688th head of the City of London, London's finance center, Moutevans is paying a visit to Turkey to meet with potential Turkish investors seeking to enter the British market. The two countries are also holding talks to find ways to cooperate on the Istanbul International Finance Center (IFM) project, which was prepared in order to make Istanbul one of the top 25 financial centers in the world and rank among the top 30 countries in the world regarding financial development.
Turner said they see the IFM as a potentially important source of future economic growth in Turkey. "Turkey is fantastically advanced in the banking sector," Turner said, adding that its online services are excellent, which British banks may learn some from. The U.K. is an advanced market in terms of insurance and participation banking, according to Turner. The two countries may exchange the ideas and expertise that they are experienced in.
