Accountability

Charity and community

Amlin aims to play a positive role in the community through charitable donations and encouraging employees to engage with local community partners. The Company promotes payroll giving and provides matched funding for eligible staff initiatives.

In addition to engagement with Lloyd’s and the insurance community in Bermuda, we define our communities as those in the neighbourhoods of our offices, particularly the City of London and its nearby inner London Boroughs (many of which contain significant areas of deprivation), central Essex (where a large number of staff work at our office in Chelmsford) and Bermuda.

Our charitable donation and community activities are becoming increasingly closely related. During 2007 the Board’s agreed UK charities budget was overseen by a Charities Committee with members drawn from across the Group. Formal reporting of the Group’s 2007 charitable expenditure, including that of ABL, is contained in the Directors' report. For 2008 the Board has set a higher UK budget encompassing all expenditure directly related to community and corporate responsibility matters which will be managed by a new Charities and Communities Panel under the guidance of a Corporate Responsibility Advisory Group. ABL’s charitable and community activities will continue to be developed under the direction of the ABL board.

The focus of charitable support in 2007 continued to be on children and health in London and other areas local to our offices, as these are relevant both to our employees and our future. Macmillan Cancer Support remains Amlin’s primary charity partner. We agreed in 2007 to fund a Neuro Oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist at St Bartholomew’s Hospital for an initial two year term. Additional funds have been raised for charities, including but not limited to our chosen charities, by staff participation in sponsored events.

During 2007 we have continued staff engagement with our community partners, ChildLine and Hackney Quest. Our donations to ChildLine paid for the recruitment and training of six volunteer counsellors and those to Hackney Quest funded teaching resources, educational trips and computer software and PC support. Amlin staff joined these young people on excursions to Lord’s cricket ground and staff from our yacht insurance business hosted another successful sailing day on the Lloyd’s yacht, Lutine. Amlin also supports Little Havens, an Essex-based children’s hospice close to Chelmsford. Staff there raised an additional £13,525 of funds in 2007, which will fund a hospice nurse for 31 weeks.

Looking ahead to 2008 in the UK, we have reviewed our strategy for charity and community engagement with the aim of aligning our efforts more closely with the interests of our clients as well as with the future development of our employees. It will be a major focus of the new Charities and Communities Panel in 2008 to start this process.

Bermuda

Philanthropy is an important part of corporate life in Bermuda and ABL staff are actively involved in community and charitable work there. During 2007 it formalised a local charities committee which agreed corporate donations totalling US$42,167 (2006: US$15,100), principally to Bermudian educational, health and family welfare, and arts organisations. This included support for the Bermuda Foundation for Insurance Studies, which assists Bermudian students through scholarships, mentoring, career guidance and internship programmes to achieve a career in insurance. It is expected that these activities will further develop in 2008. Amlin Bermuda has also joined the Centre for Philanthropy, an organisation that aims to bring corporate donors, volunteers and local charities together.

30% of ABL’s staff are involved in voluntary and charitable fund raising organisations, including a school mentoring charity, the Foster Parents Association, helping with the “End to End” charity walk, and a number of cultural and sporting organisations. ABL and its staff regard such community involvement as an important responsibility of any business taking advantage of the favourable local conditions for their operations.

© Copyright Amlin 2007