Society of Lloyd's acts to toughen byelaws for #MeToo era

Reflecting broader societal concerns and trends, the City of London has come under pressure to tackle poor behaviours that previously may have had an unclear regulatory status. Michelle Diamond and Imogen Makin discuss a Society of Lloyd's consultation on amending formal powers to clamp down on non-financial misconduct.

Michelle Diamond is a partner in the New York office and Imogen Makin is London-based counsel, with WilmerHale. Contact them on michelle.diamond@wilmerhale.com and imogen.makin@wilmerhale.com.

#MeToo is on the eve of a new chapter in the United Kingdom. Non-financial misconduct has been high on both the regulatory and political agenda in 2024. Q1 ended with a sobering indictment of culture in financial services, with the Treasury Select Committee reporting that "overall there has been a disappointing lack of progress on sexual harassment and bullying, including serious sexual misconduct ... serious problems which should have been rooted out still persist." [1] The Financial Conduct Authority has previously singled out the London insurance market as having "a long way to go in having an inclusive culture ... areas for improvement include preventing and handling non-financial misconduct" [2] and now the Society of Lloyd's is taking formal steps to address these criticisms by consulting on amendments to its byelaws to clamp down on non-financial misconduct ('the Consultation'). [3] The proposals are based around the introduction of a single market conduct and behaviours overarching objective: