The move was announced on the morning of Lloyd's full-year results, which showed that pre-tax profits stood flat on last year at £2.1bn in a period Mr Nelson described as "exceptionally tough" from an underwriting point of view.

Lloyd's major claims stood at £2.1bn last year, the fifth highest since the turn of the century, on the back of Hurricane Matthew and the Fort McMurray wildfire in Canada, while its combined ratio - the proportion of premiums that are paid out in claims - worsened from 90pc to 97pc.

Mr Nelson said that if interest rates pick up, it would "tighten the market up a bit" and provide some light at the end of the tunnel. Chief executive Inga Beale added that 2016 had "been a year of challenge for the insurance sector with premiums once more under continued downward pressure" .

The announcement that Lloyds will open a Brussels office comes a day after JP Morgan sent a memo out to staff saying that it was reviewing a number of factors in reaction to Brexit and would "not rush into any decisions" given the complexity involved.

"We have spent the last several months reviewing the many variables in this process - client needs, employee considerations, regulatory requirements, operational risks, our inventory of licenses, political issues in the region and dozens of other factors," the memo read.