Ex-Governor-General press secretary Rebekah Clement named in Lloyd’s affair investigation

John Neal was in line to be paid $25.32 million a year in his new position at New York insurer AIG. Photo / Getty Images

A former City boss has lost out on a $25.32 million job at one of America’s top insurance companies over claims he had an affair with a colleague.

John Neal, who ran Lloyd’s of London until earlier this year, was set to join New York insurer AIG.

However, his offer was revoked last week after the United States giant learned he was being investigated for an alleged past workplace romance.

Lloyd’s, the centuries-old insurance marketplace, is looking into claims Neal had a relationship with Rebekah Clement, a PR executive at the company, and unfairly promoted her.

Clement, a former press secretary to New Zealand’s Governor-General, was hired as a senior communications manager by Lloyd’s in 2015 before being promoted to a newly-created position of corporate affairs director in 2023, reporting directly to Neal.

At the time, Neal praised her “experience” and suggested it could help Lloyd’s “build stronger relationships”.

Staff are said to have claimed Clement was given preferential treatment because Neal was in a relationship with her, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Neal left Lloyd’s in May but the probe was only launched last month after Sir Charles Roxburgh, Lloyd’s chairman, became aware of “market speculation concerning possible historic breaches of policy”, Lloyd’s said.

Sheila Cameron, chief of the Lloyd’s Market Association, which represents members of the marketplace, welcomed the launch of the investigation.

She said members “will be as appalled as we are at the possibility of the market being tarnished by alleged poor behaviours from a small minority of leaders, who were previously at the top of Lloyd’s”.

Neal has found himself in trouble for workplace romances in the past. He previously had his bonus cut in 2017 for failing to disclose a relationship with his executive assistant while running Australian insurer QBE.

On leaving Lloyd’s, Neal had been set to join American insurance giant AIG as second-in-command. However, his appointment was abruptly cancelled last week with the company citing “personal reasons”.

Neal was in line to be paid US$14.2 million ($25.32m) a year in his new position, far more than the roughly £1m ($2.34m) he took home during his final year at Lloyd’s.

Clement left Lloyd’s in May, shortly after Neal stepped down.

Founded in 1689, Lloyd’s of London is an insurance market that lets its members broker new insurance policies for everything from cargo ships to oil rigs.

It emerged out of the City of London coffee houses that were once frequented by merchants and shipowners, growing into the biggest insurance marketplace in the world. Today it is based inside central London’s inside-out building, designed by Sir Norman Foster and opened in 1986.

The investigation follows a string of scandals around workplace affairs at some of the world’s largest companies.

Bernard Looney, the former chief of BP, stepped down in September 2023 after failing to disclose relationships with colleagues.

Steve Easterbrook, the chief executive of McDonald’s, was fired from his job in 2019 over a romance he had with one of his employees.

Neal and Clement were contacted for comment.

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