The company was seeking a solution to ensure it can continue doing business without interruption when the UK leaves the EU, it said in a statement.

It had shortlisted the Belgian and Luxembourg capitals as favourites prior to Thursday’s announcement.

Lloyd’s chief executive Inga Beale said that the company was aiming to be read to write business for 1 January 2019, subject to regulatory approval.

“Brussels met the critical elements of providing a robust regulatory framework in a central European location, and will enable Lloyd’s to continue to provide specialist underwriting expertise to our customers,” Beale said.

On 29 March the UK government triggered Article 50, starting two years of negotiations with EU member states before its departure is final.

“There is no immediate impact on existing policies, renewals or new policies, including multi-year policies, written during this period of time,” the company said.