James Counsell and Farhaz Khan help to secure Lloyd’s of London regulatory settlement

Neil Utley, former CEO of Equity Syndicate Management Limited (“Equity”), has settled regulatory charges brought by the Council of Lloyd’s (“the Council”). Mr Utley has accepted two charges of detrimental conduct in proceedings before the Lloyd’s Enforcement Tribunal (“the Tribunal”) and has undertaken not to apply for a role as a director in the Lloyd’s market for two years and has agreed to pay the Council’s costs.

Equity is the Managing Agent of Syndicate 218 (“the Syndicate”), a leading underwriting insurance business at Lloyd’s, specialising in the provision of motor insurance.

In October 2011, enforcement proceedings were brought by the Council against Mr Utley and Equity in relation to two charges of detrimental conduct. The charges related to Mr Utley’s overall responsibilities as CEO for corporate governance and for overseeing the establishment of effective reserving systems and controls within Equity, alleging that he failed to take sufficient steps to ensure that proper standards were met.

The Council had reached a settlement with and had censured Equity in December 2011 for systems and controls failures.

James Counsell and Farhaz Khan have assisted Lloyd’s Legal and Compliance Department, on behalf of the Council in the conduct of the inquiry which preceded the proceedings and in instituting and conducting these proceedings.

News 26 Feb, 2013