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A former PR executive for Lloyd’s of London has threatened to sue the insurance market after an investigation found “no conclusive evidence” she had a romantic relationship with its former chief executive.
Rebekah Clement, a former adviser to New Zealand’s prime minister, is considering taking legal action against Lloyd’s after a long-running review failed to find that she had a workplace affair with John Neal, the former chief executive.
While the review found the former Lloyd’s chief had covered up a “sufficiently close” relationship with Ms Clement, the investigation “found no conclusive evidence” that the pair were in a romantic relationship, or that she was unfairly promoted to the role of corporate affairs director.
Lloyd’s was embroiled in a fresh controversy last November after it emerged the market had launched an investigation into allegations of a workplace affair between Ms Clement and Mr Neal.
The claims, which first emerged in the Wall Street Journal, suggested both had been in a romantic relationship and Ms Clement had benefited professionally.
Ms Clement’s lawyers, from Irwin Mitchell, said on Wednesday: “Rebekah is hugely disappointed with Lloyd’s conduct over the course of this investigation, the nature and length of which have caused her unnecessary stress and significant reputational damage relative to its ‘findings’.”
The investigation was launched in November 2025 after Sir Charles Roxburgh, the chairman of Lloyd’s, became aware of rumours of an alleged workplace affair between Mr Neal and Ms Clement.
Both had left the insurance marketplace by then.
Ms Clement started as a senior manager in Lloyd’s communications department in 2015 before being promoted to the newly created position of corporate affairs director in 2023, reporting directly to Mr Neal.
The review found Mr Neal’s close relationship with Ms Clement risked creating conflicts of interest. However, he failed to disclose the relationship.
Lloyd’s found that Mr Neal’s colleagues confronted him directly about the relationship. Mr Neal “acknowledged” the concerns and promised to take action, but investigators “found no evidence of material change in Mr Neal’s conduct thereafter”, Lloyd’s said.
However, the investigation determined Mr Neal had a “sufficiently close” relationship with Ms Clement that it could have created conflicts of interest.
The insurance market said both fell short of the standards expected by failing to disclose the relationship.
Sir Charles said: “Trust, integrity and effective oversight are fundamental to Lloyd’s. Based on the findings of this investigation, we have concluded that the conduct of the former chief executive fell significantly below the standards expected of him.”
However Mr Neal also attacked the outcome of the ruling.
“I am pleased, but not at all surprised, that the investigation found there was no inappropriate relationship,” he told the Financial Times.
“I would have hoped less time and resource had been spent in reaching a conclusion on the central question that was, in truth, never in doubt.”
He added: “I am disappointed with the other findings and do not accept them, but I’m glad that all parties are now able to move on.”
Mr Neal spent more than a decade at Australian insurer QBE, including as its chief executive, before taking up the position as Lloyd’s of London’s boss in October 2018. He previously lost a $550,000 (£410,000) bonus from QBE after a workplace affair at the insurer in 2017.
Both Mr Neal and Ms Clement declined to answer questions about the nature of their relationship during the investigation, and Mr Neal also declined to provide Lloyd’s with access to his mobile device.
Mr Neal forwent millions’ worth of his bonuses for 2024 and 2025 after leaving the centuries-old insurance market last year for a job at US insurance giant American International Group (AIG).
However, he lost out on the £10m-a-year role after AIG learned he was being investigated by Lloyd’s of London.
After the investigation’s conclusion, Lloyd’s has written to Mr Neal to tell him he would have lost out on bonuses if he were entitled to them after the findings about his conduct.
Their conduct caused Lloyd’s to suffer reputational damage, the investigation found.
Started from a coffee shop in the City of London in 1689, Lloyd’s of London is one of the world’s largest insurance markets, where dozens of individual insurance companies strike more than £50bn worth of deals each year.
