Opening up instead of locking down
Rein4ce CEO Mairi Mallon aka @reinsurancegirl welcomes the lifting of restrictions in London and New York and looks forward to meeting people face-to-face again.
As we all know, the insurance industry is very sociable. We may do business with each other, but the market often feels like a global family. We like to see each other, exchange gossip and break bread together. But for the last year Covid-19 has had us at the very least confined to our countries, if not to our homes. This month, however, sees very different situations evolving around the world. The City of London has started to come blinking out of lockdown and back into the bars and restaurants. The Financial Times reported that on the first day it opened a restaurant on Threadneedle Street was drunk dry of Veuve Cliquot (on a Monday) and that Gauchos sold on average 1kg of meat per customer (also on a Monday). Get the feeling people are desperate to go out again? Further easing is planned in England for May 17 and more workers are gradually move partially back to City office working. Pandemic restrictions in the US are also easing and tourists and business visitors are starting to return to New York. On May 15 there will be an increase in office capacity to 75% from the current 50%. I’ve even started planning a trip for the end of September to visit clients, press and prospects. Bermuda, as we know, is another world. It has been relatively unaffected on-island with few restrictions on people going about their business, but a surge in cases after Easter has led to a new lockdown which will not ease until the second week in June. Again, once I get my second vaccine, I’ll be heading out there as once vaccinated quarantine will be minimal. So much has been happening across all three insurance and reinsurance hubs, I cannot wait to be able to sit down, face-to-face and in person to see friends and colleagues I work with again.
