Lloyd’s CFO Luke Savage has urged governments not to put insurance in the same category as the banks as they try to fix the financial services sector.

He says some parts of the industry are faring better than others as the aftershocks of the global financial crisis are felt throughout the sector, and governments should not assume all financial services companies are in the same boat.

“Banks are in a mess, yet the UK Government has taken the view that the whole financial services sector needs sorting out,” Mr Savage said. “But our part of financial services is actually doing quite nicely.”

He says the UK Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) recent “be afraid of us” warning is misdirected and counter-productive.

“We insurers think we have a good relationship with the FSA and we don’t want to be afraid of the supervisor,” he said. “It makes insurers less willing to be transparent.”

Mr Savage says while insurers will be hit by a combination of rising claims and slowing premium volumes this year, Lloyd’s insurers are better placed than many to ride this period out. He says it is those insurers and reinsurers who dabbled in investment banking products that are now suffering.