The former chief executive of Lloyd’s of London, John Neal, had his offer from AIG pulled after alleged inappropriate workplace relationship came to light.
Neal was in a leadership position at Lloyd’s for over six years, having joined from QBE, where he was the group CEO for over five years.
He was set to join Aon as its global CEO of reinsurance and global chairman of climate solutions.
However, in July AIG said it hired Neal to be its president, upending his agreement to join insurance broker Aon.
But last Friday AIG said it reached a mutual agreement with Neal and that he would no longer join as planned due to personal circumstances.
On Wednesday night the Wall Street Journal reported that the insurance giant pulled his appointment after it discovered his previous employer launched an investigation into an alleged workplace affair.
The Lloyds Market Association (LMA) said it welcomes the announcement from Lloyd’s of an investigation, which will be supported by a law firm.
CEO Sheila Cameron said: “This market is made up of many great people who exhibit exemplary values and behaviours, and they will be as appalled as we are at the possibility of the market being tarnished by alleged poor behaviours from a small minority of leaders, who were previously at the top of Lloyd’s.”
Culture under the scope
Back in 2019, Bloomberg published a report that threw Lloyd’s culture into the hot seat.
The report highlighted a male-dominated workforce and excessive drinking, which highlighted the work Lloyd’s still has to do to improve its reputation.
Since then, Lloyd’s has overhauled its culture with updated rules, standards, fines, and a push on non-financial misconduct.
“Huge cultural and structural changes have happened since the 2019 Bloomberg report into insurance market culture,” Cameron added.
“Today’s events make it clear that we must reaffirm our market wide commitment to cultural change at every level in order to protect our market’s reputation. We have come so far on this journey – let’s not allow the actions of the few to deter the will of the many.”