Leadenhall Market in the City
(Picture: Getty Images)LLOYD’S of London today dished out a £1 million fine to a member firm for misconduct including sexual harassment and bullying.
The insurance market found that Atrium allowed a culture of “systematic bullying” amidst heavy drinking to persist.
While Atrium apologised and accepted the findings, there will be fears that little has truly changed at the heart of the City despite decades of scandals.
A junior employee was bullied over several years.
There was a regular “Boys’ Night Out” at which staff including two senior executives took part in "unprofessional and inappropriate conduct, including initiation games, heavy drinking and making inappropriate and sexualised comments about female colleagues, which were both discriminatory and harassing to female members of staff".
Lloyd’s has banned daytime drinking for its own staff, but the 100 insurers that make up its market do not follow the same rules.
The pubs at Leadenhall Market near Lloyd’s remain busy throughout much of the day and tend to be rammed at night.
Lloyd’s said in its "notice of censure" that Atrium failed to take adequate steps to deal with an employee’s "systematic campaign of bullying against a junior employee over a number of years" and failed to notify Lloyd’s of the case.
Christopher Stooke, chairman at Atrium, said the company fully accepted the ruling and recognised it must ensure such behaviour was never allowed to happen again.
Lloyd’s CEO John Neal: "Discrimination, harassment and bullying have no place at Lloyd’s. We will not tolerate poor conduct in our market."
Sheila Cameron, CEO of the Lloyd’s Market Association, said the trade body would support any individual wishing to report "unacceptable behaviour".
Atrium was fined £1.05 million pounds and must pay £563,000 in costs. That is the largest fine in Lloyd’s history.
The Lloyd’s market has faced repeated calls to clean up its culture.
