According to the favoured outlet for government leaking announcements beforehand to see what you think of them, and fount of all knowledge, the Daily Mail, the R (the term we use because we are too lazy to say rate of infection) is now at its LOWEST RATE EVER!!!

 

Fake news.  I am pretty sure that two years ago, say, it was zero.  R they having a laugh?

 

The Bor-gias

 

Previously on the Bor-gias: Princess Carrie from the House of Symonds has ensnared the hapless King Boris of Johnson in a love tryst as part of her scheme to take control of the realm.  Her efforts were initially thwarted by the Commoner Cummings who had a Rasputin like hold over the thoughts and actions of the monarch.  The Commoner and his arch ally the Duke of Gove had persuaded the King to pursue a war (of words) with the lands over the water led by Barnier the Stubborn.  They feared that the Princess would seek to persuade the King to take a more sympathetic line as he could not remember from one minute to the next what he thought of those that spake in another tongue.  But the Princess has convinced the king that the Commoner was planning to eat the babe she had born him (and that he was still not quite sure from whence it had came).  And so the King had confronted the Commoner and exiled him to Barnard Castle.

 

This week: the Princess Carrie makes a move to consolidate her position by bringing in to the inner sanctum of the Court the Mistress Finn and the Master Newman.  But, aghast at what he sees as the weakness of the Duke of Gove, Cardinal Frost has usurped the Duke from his position as Ambassador to the lands over the water and has further silenced the influence of the Idiot Raab.  Will the Cardinal’s desperate manoeuvre pay dividends?  Will he find further favour with the King?  Might he unmask the Princess Carrie in her true light?  Find out this time next week.

 

It is extraordinary.  You can read all the detail here and here.  More intrigue than an episode of Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds.

 

Make the future

 

As you are hopefully aware, Lloyd’s has embarked on a project to design the underwriting room of the future.  And it is looking for your opinion on what it should look like.  There are many ways to contribute beyond the focus groups we sent details of last week.  You can also anonymously troll them on their collaboration site.  If you have tried to get onto this site before and had trouble, give it another go.  There are some firewall issues that Lloyd’s is trying to resolve.  And whilst it is, in part, full of comments from luddite underwriters who never want to see a computer again, there are some interesting ideas beginning to emerge.  Plus you can speculate on the true identity of the mystery contributor benreidey.  Henry the mild mannered janitor?

 

Webinarcos

 

Another successful week of online training with our sessions on client money and tax (possibly a bit too much tax – if that were possible – so we may arrange a follow up focussed solely on client money) plus our joint venture with LMA on SCAP which drew an audience of over 450 (seriously, did they not read the title?).  As a reminder we have coming up…

 

  • Next Tuesday (23rd) Morgan Lewis (founded by Tracey Morgan and Leona Lewis) will be presenting on the employment challenges COVID has brought – including what you can and can’t do with regard to insisting staff have a vaccination.  And, no, the bloke from Pimlico Plumbers is not allowed to come.  Register here by end Monday to attend.

 

  • On Wednesday 3rd March, LIIBA’s PR gurus and the marketing world’s answer to Dempsey & Makepeace – Caroline Wagstaff and Adrian Beeby – bring you You don’t need a communications team to communicate well.  Some tips and suggestions for how you can use social media and other free resources to build your brand.  And not all of it involves pictures of James in silly shirts.  Register here for that one.

 

Looking ahead we are planning on putting on something on Know Your Customer requirements.  And if there are other areas you would like us to cover, let me know?

 

Is it (digit)al that?

 

There is no doubt that digital processing and a dependence on data can deliver vastly more efficient processes in this day and age.  And many of you are joining us in discussions with the Future of Lloyd’s team over core data records, data flows, digital spines and data coconuts*.  But, equally, there are still times when it can go slightly awry.  As in the case of Liam Thorp, a 34 year old Liverpudlian with no underlying health conditions who was sent an invitation to have a Covid-19 vaccine.  It turns out that this was because, whilst he is a man standing 6 feet 2 inches tall, his GP has recorded his height at 6.2 cm.  This gave him a Body Mass Index north of 28,000 when anything over 40 is deemed morbidly obese.

 

As he rightly points out, he worries why his doctor had not been in touch before to see what he was up to wadlling around Merseyside 70,000% overweight.  But surely more pertinent is who on earth are NHS employing if someone can process the record of a fully grown man and tap in his height at 6.2cm?  I mean what level of small man syndrome would that lead to?  Although, tbf, his feet wouldn’t reach the pedals in his Porsche.

 

*full disclosure: I may have made this bit up

 

Registration situation

 

Such is the way with the rumour mill in our market that I have had two enquiries in the last couple of weeks asking if it is true that Lloyd’s Europe is no longer authorised to write business.  This is not true.  Lloyd’s has been asked by the Belgian regulators to explore alternative business models that would allow it to continue to comply withInsurance Distribution Directive.  But the keyword is “continue”.  There is no suggestion that Lloyd’s does not currently comply.  It remains authorised and a viable option for your clients’ business.

 

Continental drift

 

A whistle-stop tour of some other EU related happenings

 

  • I attended a BIPAR roundtable discussion between outgoing EIOPA supremo Gabriel Bernadino and Commission insurance jefe Didier Millerot.  Lots of talk of “proportionality 2.0”, clarity for small firms and ensuring value for clients as the principles upon which IDD2 might be built.  We shall see.
  • All talk emanating from our government is that EU is unlikely to grant many, if any, equivalence determinations and that the regulatory MOU allowed for in the Brexit deal will be pretty thin.  But this is mainly of academic interest only for our sector
  • EU has struck on a novel solution to the Northern Ireland conundrum – deprive them of oxygen by banning the importation of trees
  • As foretold in this column last week, European Commission has started the process to grant data adequacy status to UK under GDPR.   7, 9, 16, 28, 43, 49 since you are asking.

 

Stop Min Ger Lin

 

Who would have thought a department run by Priti Patel would come up with something seemingly so out of touch with social norms and, indeed, reality.  But Home Office video trying to dissuade people from attending illegal gatherings is undeniably a bit weird.  But not necessarily ineffective though.  I highly recommend watching the succession of god awful looking abominations and think that you would ever want to be in such a hell hole again, lockdown or no lockdown.  An epiphany.

 

 

That is it.  I am off to celebrate Max the miracle dog’s pet OBE.