Lloyd’s has appointed Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) to provide an extra independent opinion on its financial strength, adding to assessments from Standard & Poor’s, AM Best and Fitch Ratings.

“We believe it is important to have a diversity of views in the ratings market and welcome KBRA as a new entrant that will provide a fresh perspective on Lloyd’s,” CFO Burkhard Keese said.

KBRA has assigned an initial AA- insurance financial strength rating to Lloyd’s with a stable outlook.

Lloyd’s says the rating reflects its risk-adjusted capitalisation, unique structure, conservative underwriting leverage, sound technical reserves, strong liquidity profile, diversified earnings sources, broad distribution channels and comprehensive risk management program.

The marketplace says the new rating also considers Lloyd’s capital growth at a compound annual rate of 6.5% since end-2014 despite elevated catastrophe attritional losses since 2016.

“At Lloyd’s we highly value our ratings as they are vital indicators to our customers, our market, and our investors of our exceptional financial position,” Mr Keese said.

“As shown in our 2020 full-year results, our capital and solvency positions are strong and resilient, which is reflected in our current ratings.”

Lloyd’s other financial strength ratings are A+ (strong) stable outlook with S&P; A (excellent) stable outlook with AM Best; and AA- (very strong) with Fitch.