Lloyd’s CEO Inga Beale, the first woman to lead the organisation and a campaigner for diversity across the global insurance industry, will step down next year.

“In her five year’s at Lloyd’s, Inga has set in motion a series of changes aimed at modernising the market and making it more efficient and inclusive,” Chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown said on Friday.

“Her boldness and persistence have generated the momentum required to bring about real change.”

Ms Beale was made a Dame in the UK New Year’s honours list in 2017 for services to the economy.  She is also a member of the UK Financial Services Trade and Investment Board, President of the UK Chartered Insurance Institute and a member of the Public Service Leadership Taskforce.

Lloyd’s General Representative in Australia Chris Mackinnon says the organisation has seen significant cultural change and a focus on the adoption of new technology under Ms Beale’s leadership.

“Here in Australia, the Dive In Festival, which was founded by Inga in 2014, is back for the third year with 16 events scheduled across Australia and New Zealand,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

A pilot of digital coverholder matching portal Lloyd’s Bridge will be launched in Sydney next week, and Mr Mackinnon says a second feasibility project, enabling coverholders to place risks under a binding authority and process them through an online portal, will be trialled in Australia this year.

Ms Beale said in a statement that the decision to leave Lloyd’s next year “has been a tough one”.

“When the time comes I will miss the energy, innovative spirit and expertise that I come across every working day.

“The world trusts Lloyd’s to be there when it matters the most and I believe it is well placed for the next 330 years.”

Ms Beale’s leaving date will be confirmed “in due course” and until then she will continue to focus on priorities such as embedding the Target Operating Model (TOM) and establishing the group’s post-Brexit Brussels subsidiary.

Before joining Lloyd’s, Ms Beal was Group CEO of reinsurer Canopius. She has held senior positions at Zurich Insurance and at French reinsurer Scor during more than three decades in the industry.

A search for her successor is understood to already be underway.