Descartes Underwriting gains Lloyd's coverholder status

Parametric insurance specialist Descartes Underwriting has secured Lloyd's coverholder status through a partnership with Oak Global. The move gives Descartes direct access to Lloyd's underwriting capacity via syndicate 2843.

Parametric policies pay out when an independently measured threshold – such as wind speed, rainfall, or earthquake magnitude – is breached, bypassing the traditional loss-adjustment process. Brokers have shown growing interest in these structures over the past two years, particularly for climate-related risks that are hard to model with standard indemnity coverage.

Descartes, founded in 2018, focuses on corporate and public-sector clients exposed to natural catastrophes and weather volatility. The Lloyd's platform lets it write larger tickets and offer multi-year policies, which some risk managers prefer for budget predictability.

The partnership with Oak Global, a Lloyd's managing agent, gives Descartes a regulated entry point without building its own syndicate from scratch. Oak Global's syndicate 2843 has been active since 2020, writing specialty lines including marine, energy, and political risk.

Descartes joins a small but growing group of parametric specialists at Lloyd's. The market has been testing parametric triggers for pandemic, cyber, and supply-chain disruption, though property catastrophe remains the dominant use case.