Lloyd’s of London insurer opens investigation amid ‘fresh harassment claims’
Tokio Marine Kiln (TMK), one of the Lloyd’s of London’s top insurance firms, is conducting an investigation amid claims two executives harassed colleagues.
The claims deepen the scandal surrounding workplace culture at Lloyd’s of London.
Allegations are believed to include one executive groping colleagues and making lewd sexual remarks. Another has been accused of stalking a junior employee, according to Bloomberg.
Both executives have now left the company, it is reported.
The allegations reportedly came to light after several colleagues contacted TMK senior lawyer Ifeanyi Okoh, who passed on their claims to management in April. City PM understands he also contacted the Metropolitan Police, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulatory Authority.
A police spokesperson told City PM the force had received two allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace. One case, they said, has now closed after police spoke to the alleged victim, a man in his thirties.
But the second case, which also included “bullying” alongside sexual harassment in the workplace, is ongoing. Officers have thus far been able to contact the alleged victim, a woman in her thirties. “If any allegations are received, the case will be transferred to Canada police for further investigation.”
Okoh is on annual leave and was unavailable for comment. The FCA declined to comment.The PRA declined to comment on specific engagement with any firm, but a spokesperson said: “We take any allegations that call in question the integrity of senior managers regime seriously.”
‘Big live issues’
Lloyd’s chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown told City A.M last month: “There are two or three quite big live issues out there at the moment.”
Speaking at the City Week conference in London, he added: “They fall into the sort of categories of harassment and sexual activity and bullying.”
Carnegie-Brown said Lloyd’s had to “give the companies who are the direct employers of the individuals a chance to investigate them,” after which Lloyd’s itself would “have a chance to review them”.
The historic insurance marketplace has been battling reports of a misogynistic workplace atmosphere at the institution since March, when a Bloomberg article based on the accounts of 18 women described “a deep-seated culture of sexual harassment” and instances of sexual assault.
Lloyd’s produced an action plan in March to address reports of sexual harassment of women at the marketplace, which states that individuals with “a case to answer” would “be subject to sanctions” from both their own companies and Lloyd’s.