Lloyd's of London preparing for Euro collapse

The chief executive of the multi-billion dollar Lloyd's of London has publicly admitted that the world's leading insurance market is prepared for a collapse in the single currency and has reduced its exposure "as much as possible" to the crisis-ridden continent. Richard Ward said the London market had put in place a contingency plan to switch euro underwriting to multi-currency settlement if Greece abandoned the euro. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph he also revealed that Lloyd's could have to take writedowns on its ?58.9bn investment portfolio if the eurozone collapses. Europe accounts for 18pc of Lloyd's ?23.5bn of gross written premiums, mostly in France, Germany, Spain and Italy. The market also has a fledgling operation in Poland.