INSURANCE: Radical proposals to modernise Lloyd's of London, the world's oldest insurance market, were unveiled yesterday, including plans to scrap the traditional system of Names - wealthy individuals who back the market.
Lloyd's plans to offer the individuals a cash sum in return for giving up their security of tenure to underwrite on certain Lloyd's syndicates. The radical plans follow a nine-month inquiry, but are being fiercely opposed by the Names who continue to invest in Lloyd's syndicates.
Lloyd's hopes that the shake-up will improve the 300-year-old institution's chances of competing with offshore centres such as Bermuda. The proposed changes have been triggered by corporate investors which now provide the majority 80 per cent of the market's £12.3 billion sterling (€20 billion) underwriting capacity.
The number of Names has dwindled to 2,400, and they now make up only 20 per cent of the market.
Any changes must be approved by an extraordinary general meeting of all 12,000 Lloyd's members. Because the votes are cast on a one-member, one-vote basis, corporate investors would only have a little over 900 of that total.
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