The Lloyd's of London insurance has put in place a contingency plan and decreased its exposure to euro area countries, Lloyd's chief executive Richard Ward has confirmed.
Richard Ward told The Sunday Telegraph newspaper that the firm was prepared for the exit and that it will move from euro underwriting to multi-currency settlement, if Greece abandoned the euro.
"With all the concerns around the euro zone at the moment, we’ve got to be careful doing business in Europe and there are a lot of question marks over writing business in the future in euros," Ward added.
The firm may take writedowns on its £58.9bn ($92.1bn) investment portfolio in the event of a possible collapse of the European single currency, expected to be triggered by Greece returning to the drachma.
"I don’t think that if Greece exited the euro it would lead to the collapse of the euro zone but what we need to do is prepare for that eventuality."
Of the £23.5bn gross written premiums of Lloyd’s, 18% is contributed by Europe that includes France, Germany, Spain and Italy, according to The Telegraph.
Lloyd’s had suffered a major loss last year due to record claims from catastrophes.