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London insurance broker Lloyd has been charged by a serious fraud office on alleged bribery paid to Ecuadorian officials through a US intermediary against land contracts from state-owned businesses in Andean countries.
United Insurance Brokers Limited, a reinsurance broker operating in London’s London insurance market, was accused on Thursday of failing to prevent the bribery paid to Ecuadorian officials between 2013 and 2016.
The representative of UIB, created in 1987 through the acquisition of Marsh McLennan’s management team, is scheduled to appear in the courtroom of Magistrate Westminster on May 7th.
The SFO, which has been investigating UIB since 2021, claims it paid Ecuadorian officials $3 million from a $6.2 million committee to a US-based intermediary in return for awarding a reinsurance contract worth $38 million.
The contract involved UIB providing reinsurance to Ecuadorian state insurance companies and covering them for potential losses in the policies of public sector services, including the state’s water and utility companies.
The charges against UIB highlight how the UK continues to prosecute allegations of corruption by foreign companies, even after US President Donald Trump ordered a suspension on enforcement of bribery cases under the Foreign Corruption Practices Act.
Last month, SFO announced the creation of a new task force to work together with French and Swiss prosecutors to share their expertise in foreign corruption cases.
“SFO remains committed to stamping international bribery where it may occur,” said SFO Director Nick Fgrave. “British companies have an obligation to prevent the harm caused by bribery when doing business domestically and internationally, in order to ensure that the UK is a safe and fair place to do business.”
Two other UK insurers — Taisa and HW Wood — have previously been paid as part of a tens of millions of dollars of penalty and confiscation agreement for alleged bribery payments paid to Ecuadorian officials between 2013 and 2017 as part of a postponed prosecutor’s agreement with the US Department of Justice.
US authorities also accused eight people, including Juan Ribas Domenech, former chairman of Ecuador’s state-run insurance company. Rivas Domenek was sentenced to 51 months in a Florida prison after pleading guilty to money laundering in his role in this and another scheme in 2020.
The allegations against UIB date back to the president of Rafael Correa, who was found guilty of accepting bribes in exchange for a public works contract in 2020, and was sentenced to eight years in absent prison by a court in Quito. Correa, who is in exile in Belgium, denied the charges.
Reinsurance Broker’s parent company, UIB Holdings, has 680 staff across 17 offices around the world, including Miami, Colombia and Peru. According to the latest results, it generated a pre-tax profit of £17.1 million against £89 million revenue in 2023.
The insurance company said in 2021 it began investigating “reinsurance business activities carried out over the past few years.” The Brazilian authorities also warned that “we have launched a lawsuit against group companies regarding activities in the aviation and brokering industry.”
The UK accusations against UIB are the ninth investigation published by SFO since Nick Ephgrave became director when he was criticized for the collapse of many well-known cases in September 2023.
This article was updated to correct the amount that UIB allegedly paid to the intermediary following an amendment issued by SFO.
