One of Australia’s top female brokers met the first woman CEO of Lloyd’s while visiting London as the inaugural winner of the Valerie Baker Memorial Award.

Belinda Scott, director of Melbourne-based BJS Insurance Brokers, met Inga Beale and spent time with broker RFIB during her recent trip.

She also visited the underwriting and compliance teams of Catlin and Atrium.

“The broader London market occupies just a few blocks around the Lloyd’s building and I loved the close proximity of all the insurance professionals,” Ms Scott said.

“There is so much more verbal – not just email – contact than exists in Australia and, ironically, it appears to be more time-efficient.”

“Brokers can go into Lloyd’s with 30 slips and get answers there and then,” she told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“Some would say it’s archaic but I found it refreshing.”

At the Chartered Insurance Institute she saw the similarity between issues facing the Australian and London markets, such as strong competition, increasing compliance and training requirements, and the challenge of hiring and retaining talent.

Ms Scott kept a blog of her trip at belindascottbjs.com. She says she did not imagine the award would provide such an educational experience.

The Valerie Baker Memorial Award honours Gold Seal founder Valerie Baker’s commitment to furthering professionalism in the broking and underwriting agency industries. It is sponsored by Gold Seal and Steadfast.