Robert Hiscox, the outspoken chairman of Hiscox, is a rarity in a notoriously secretive market. This year, when small Lloyd’s of London insurers complained that the big companies were abandoning the 318-year-old market for Bermuda, Mr Hiscox told them that they were lucky to ride on his company’s coat-tails.
Mr Hiscox has long been a vocal critic of the heavy regulation and high tax burdens on London insurers. It is no wonder he has some strong opinions about the Lloyd’s market, having worked there 1965, including a two-year stint as its deputy chairman.
When not scandalising more reticient members of the market, he continues to build the company’s impressive art collection. One of his favourite artists is John Virtue, whose National Gallery exhibition last year was sponsored by the insurer. Mr Hiscox is a non-executive director of Grainger Trust, the UK’s largest quoted residential property owner. He is married with five sons.