Lloyd's of London, the world's largest insurance market, is coming under intense pressure to stop its brokers doing business with Burma, a country run by a brutal junta.
Exiled Burmese political figures and British MPs have condemned Lloyd's, chaired by Lord Levene, for trading with the country. Brokers at Lloyd's insure the country's ports, allowing it to export goods to the rest of the world. Without Lloyd's, the regime would be in severe difficulty.
Lloyd's says it has no representatives in the country, although this is contradicted by its website.
'Unfortunately much of the commercial insurance that the regime obtains and relies upon, at least in part, to stay in power, comes from Great Britain. We are calling upon the British insurance industry to cease doing business with Burma,' said Maung Maung, the exiled general secretary of the Federation of Trade Unions in Burma and tipped as a likely prime minister of Burma if the regime is deposed.
John Bercow, Tory MP and joint chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Burma, said: 'I strongly urge brokers to say no to Burma unless and until it ceases its atrocious abuses of human rights and releases all political prisoners.'
A Lloyd's spokesman said: 'Ultimately, it's up to businesses to decide where their business comes from.'
