Lloyd's North America President Hank Watkins on the Proposed New York Insurance Exchange

In the coming weeks, I&T will be going more in depth in our reporting of the possible technology implications of New York Governor David A. Patterson's announcement regarding a planned New York Insurance Exchange modeled after Lloyd's of London. (If anyone knows of a particularly good analyst or consultant source for such an article, please let me know.)With the governor's announcement still fresh in everyone's mind, it came as no surprise that the subject came up on Tuesday during a 2010 Property/Casualty Insurance Joint Industry Forum panel discussion that included Hank Watkins, president of Lloyd's North America.

Prompted by a question from the audience, Watkins said that Lloyd's is willing to help the NYIE effort in any way that it can. In addition, he says the organization has been intimately involved in discussions with past and present insurance commissioners and that it hopes to become involved in NYIE working groups.

"It's not something that is totally new to us," Watkins said. "We welcome the competition. Who wouldn't?"