The Foreign Office has written to Lloyd's of London chairman Lord Levene to outline its disapproval that Lloyd's brokers are trading with the Burmese military dictatorship.
The letter has forced Levene to write to the insurance market's managing agents last week 'urging them to consider' their involvement with the repressive regime.
Levene's intervention has fallen short of suggesting an outright boycott but is still a significant development. Lloyd's has historically been involved in Burma, despite international boycotts. Its syndicates reinsure the junta's aviation and shipping interests, and its involvement is pivotal because it is a 'market maker' encouraging other reinsurers to share risk on Burmese government interests. Without Lloyd's, campaigners believe the repressive regime would be in economic turmoil.
Johnny Chatterton of the Burma Campaign said: 'This is totally humiliating for Lloyd's. For years it has refused to accept that its members are helping to fund the Burmese regime. We welcome the British government's intervention. Lloyd's is now under colossal pressure to cut its links.'
The US government has also recently placed pressure on American insurers to cease trading with the regime. The EU's existing sanctions against Burma do not extend to financial services or energy.
