British insurance giant Lloyd's of London, responding to pressure from Black employees, has launched an internal probe investigating its role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, according to the Wall Street Journal. The specialized insurance market's chairman, Bruce Carnegie-Brown, noted that Lloyd's had insured a great many cargo ships going back and forth across the Atlantic, at least some of which were almost certainly used to carry slaves. Lloyd's, as one of the country's most venerable insurance markets, would have insured a large share of these vessels at the time.

At the same time, the chair said that Lloyd's was very different back then, as it did not directly underwrite insurance or have a central fund the way it does today, and so it is unclear just how much responsibility it bears. The probe is at least partially to see whether Lloyd's owes reparations, though Carnegie-Brown was quick to say it didn't want to get involved in that conversation without a better understanding of the cultural and legal parameters, which is part of the investigation.