Hiscox Bermuda chief executive Robert Childs says the move by several large Lloyd?s of London insurers in recent years to form Bermuda companies was a needed wake-up call for the London market.

?All businesses need reminding occasionally that they don?t have a divine right to exist, so it is a benefit as it will encourage change,? he said, in an interview.

Lloyd?s of London, the world?s oldest insurance market, recently unveiled a three-year plan to boost its efficiency and performance. The announcement came as two more of Lloyd?s biggest insurers ? Hiscox Plc and Amlin Plc ? took the leap to form Bermuda units.

Hiscox has been active in the market since 1901. Its chairman, Robert Hiscox, is the son of a former Lloyd?s chairman, and he himself served as deputy chairman.

Perhaps because he knows the market so well, Mr. Hiscox doesn?t mind pointing out its flaws. In a statement issued along with Hiscox?s March report of 2005 earnings, Mr. Hiscox said current Lloyd?s chairman Peter Levene had done a ?great job facing outwards with foreign regulators, the government and PR, but he now needs to face inwards with his new CEO and simplify market processes and the capital structure of Lloyd?s will wither away?.

While Mr. Hiscox has praised Bermuda for having the entrepreneurial spirit and swift regulation that Lloyd?s used to, Mr. Childs said Hiscox is too integrated into the London market to ever think of abandoning it.

?Most of our business is in Lloyd?s; we have every interest in it doing well,? he said. ?We have been doing this since 1901 and it is too big a part.?

But the move to Bermuda, finalised in December, is an example of Hiscox?s drive to grow beyond Lloyd?s. ?While we will be there, will be other places as well, that is the thing. It is a case of being in addition to, not instead of.?

Along with Hiscox, Amlin also formed a Bermuda unit last year. Lancashire, another new Bermuda reinsurer forming last year, was set up by those out of the Lloyd?s market and Omega Speciality also last year formed a smaller Bermuda unit.

Others preceded them: Wellington, a large Lloyd?s insurer, was instrumental in setting up Bermuda insurer Aspen Holdings Ltd. several years ago and Catlin, another large Lloyd?s insurer, formed its holding company on Bermuda in 1999 and later established a unit on the Island.

Stephen Catlin, chief executive and deputy chairman of Catlin Group Limited, said at a February industry conference: ?Bermuda is a very efficient place to have a holding company if you are an insurance company.?

But the floodgates of Lloyd?s business coming to Bermuda may have closed, Mr. Childs said. The largest Lloyd?s insurers, with the exception of Kiln Plc, which increased its Lloyd?s capacity for 2006 by ?100 million, have already set up some presence on the Island.

?There aren?t many left to do it,? said Mr. Childs.

Lloyd?s is working to attract increasing business from Bermuda, with the Island?s insurers already accounting for nearly one-quarter of the market.