Lloyd's of London
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| Insurance and reinsurance market | |
| Founded | 1688 |
| Founder | Edward Lloyd |
| Headquarters |
London, EC3 United Kingdom |
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Key people
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John Nelson (Chairman) Inga Beale (CEO) |
| Website | lloyds |
Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance market located in London's primary financial district, the City of London. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company. It is a corporate body governed by the Lloyd's Act of 1871 and subsequent Acts of Parliament. It is a partially mutualised marketplace within which multiple financial backers, grouped in syndicates, come together to pool and spread risk. These underwriters, or "members", are a collection of both corporations and private individuals, the latter being traditionally known as "Names".
The insurance business underwritten at Lloyd's is predominantly general insurance and reinsurance, although a small number of syndicates write term life assurance. The market has its roots in marine insurance and was founded by Edward Lloyd at his coffee house on Tower Street in around 1688. Today, it has a dedicated building on Lime Street, opened in 1986. Its motto is Fidentia, Latin for "confidence", and it is closely associated with the Latin phrase uberrima fides, or "utmost good faith".
In 2015, there were 84 syndicates that wrote £26.69 billion of gross premiums on business placed by 242 Lloyd's brokers. Insurance lines comprised 68% of the business written, mainly property and casualty (liability), while reinsurance represented 32%. Collectively the market reported a pre-tax profit of £2.12 billion, down from £3.16 billion in 2014.
The market began in Lloyd's Coffee House, opened by Edward Lloyd in around 1688 on Tower Street in the historic City of London. This establishment was a popular place for sailors, merchants, and ship-owners, and Lloyd catered to them with reliable shipping news. The coffee house soon became recognised as an ideal place for obtaining marine insurance. The shop was also frequented by mariners involved in the slave trade. Historian Eric Williams notes: "Lloyd's, like other insurance companies, insured slaves and slave ships, and was vitally interested in legal decisions as to what constituted 'natural death' and 'perils of the sea'." Lloyd's obtained a monopoly on maritime insurance related to the slave trade and maintained it until the early 19th century.
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Wikipedia