Lloyd's is the world's leading insurance market, transacting business worth billions of pounds in premiums each year. On March 29, 2007, A.M. Best affirmed the financial strength rating of A (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating of "a" of Lloyd's of London. The outlook is stable.

In A.M. Best's opinion, Lloyd's competitive strength derives from its marketplace structure, which fosters the development of strong specialist underwriting skills. Lloyd's Franchise Board has provided a more commercial focus to management of the market and is responsible for setting minimum standards to help safeguard its future profitability. 

For more information on Lloyd's, read our latest BestWeek Special Report: Lloyd's Mix of Primary Business, Reinsurance Shifts in Response to Hurricane Losses.

What is Lloyd's?
Lloyd's is not an insurance company, but a competitive market where individual underwriters accept risks on behalf of syndicates of individual and corporate members whose resources provide the security behind Lloyd's policies. Business comes into the market primarily through Lloyd's brokers who bring business from clients and other brokers and intermediaries worldwide.

Underwriting capacity is channeled into the Lloyd's market through individual syndicates. Each syndicate is supported by capital provided by members of Lloyd's. The role of the managing agent is to run one or more syndicates. The managing agent is responsible for the syndicate's business strategy, and the employment of the underwriters. A more recent development is the rise of Integrated Lloyd's Vehicles, in which a single corporate entity has a stake in the managing agent and owns a corporate member which provides all or some of the capacity of the syndicate managed by that agent. Read A.M. Best's Rating Methodology for Lloyd's Syndicates and Frequently Asked Questions for more information.

Additional Links:
Association of British Insurers is a trade association that represents over 400 insurance companies, which together transact about 96% of U.K. insurance company business. The association provides members with information and technical and statistical services, and represents their interests to a number of different organisations, including government, Parliament and regulatory bodies.

International Underwriting Association provides research, information, education and training for its members. It also represents members' interests to governments and regulators worldwide as well as serving as liaison with other financial services bodies. The IUA was formed through the merger of the London International Insurance and Reinsurance Market Association and the Institute of London Underwriters.