LLOYD'S OF LONDON

Lloyd’s is a market, of international standing, where individuals known as underwriters accept insurance. These underwriters have been elected ‘Underwriting Members of Lloyd’s' by a special voting process which involves meeting strict financial and other standards set by the Corporation of Lloyd’s. This Corporation owns the premises and oversees the market. It also collects shipping and other information from all over the world. It does not itself transact insurance, which is entirely a matter for individual underwriters. The most succinct definition of Lloyd’s was once given by a famous caller named Farrant. A caller is the red-robed presidential figure who sits in the rostrum beneath the Lutine Bell and calls brokers who are wanted by colleagues in the ‘room’ or on the telephone. Farrant said ‘Individually we are underwriters, collectively we are Lloyd’s’.