Lloyd's business insurance

Overview

Lloyd's is not an insurance company. It is a marketplace in London where about 100 underwriting syndicates, each run by a managing agent and backed by capital from corporate and private members, compete and co-insure risks. At the end of 2025 the market had 57 managing agents and 103 syndicates, wrote £57.9 billion of gross premium (about $76 billion) and earned a profit before tax of £10.6 billion on a combined ratio of 87.6%, according to its 2025 annual report. The Society and Corporation of Lloyd's do not underwrite; they run the market, set capital requirements, hold the market's licenses and ratings, and manage the Central Fund. Patrick Tiernan is chief executive of the Corporation and Sir Charles Roxburgh is chair.

For U.S. buyers, Lloyd's is a surplus lines market. It describes itself as one of the largest surplus lines insurers in the United States and a major reinsurer of U.S. insurers. Your policy is issued by "certain underwriters at Lloyd's" (the syndicates named on a schedule), not by Lloyd's itself, and it reaches you through a chain of intermediaries: your retail agent or broker, then a U.S. wholesale or surplus lines broker, a London Lloyd's broker, or one of more than 1,000 U.S. coverholders authorized to bind on syndicates' behalf. See How Lloyd's of London works: syndicates, brokers and what it means for you for the full mechanics.

Being surplus lines has consequences. A Lloyd's policy is written by a non-admitted insurer, so rates and forms are not filed with your state, a surplus lines broker must make the placement and usually file a diligent-search affidavit, surplus lines premium tax applies, and state guaranty funds generally do not cover the policy if a syndicate fails. Lloyd's own Chain of Security is the substitute for that backstop.

History

Lloyd's traces itself to Edward Lloyd's coffee house near the Thames in the 1680s, where merchants and ship owners met individuals willing to underwrite voyages; the market counts 1688 as its founding year. It grew into the center of marine insurance, was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1871, and moved into property, casualty and aviation in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Its U.S. reputation was built on catastrophe claims, and it has been writing American business for more than a century.

The modern structure came out of crisis. Asbestos, pollution and catastrophe losses in the 1980s and early 1990s nearly broke the market. Reforms in the 1990s admitted corporate capital alongside the individual "Names," ring-fenced pre-1993 liabilities in a run-off vehicle, Equitas, and left the post-1992 market under the single rating Lloyd's carries today. Today the Society is authorised under the U.K.'s Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority, which also regulate each managing agent.

The U.S. regulatory footprint changed in 2020. On July 10, 2020, Lloyd's told the market it would relinquish its admitted licenses in Illinois, Kentucky and the U.S. Virgin Islands, which together produced about $215 million, roughly 1% of its U.S. premium, to concentrate on surplus lines and reinsurance. No new admitted business was accepted after July 1, 2021, and the remaining admitted policies ran off on renewal. Older references to Lloyd's as "licensed in Illinois, Kentucky and the U.S. Virgin Islands and surplus lines eligible elsewhere" describe the market before that change. Lloyd's America, Inc., in New York, handles regulatory compliance across the 50 states and other U.S. jurisdictions and is where suits on Lloyd's policies may be served.

Business insurance products

Lloyd's reports four direct classes plus reinsurance. In 2025, gross written premium was £14.7 billion in casualty (general liability, professional and management liability, and similar lines), £13.0 billion in property, £6.8 billion in marine, aviation and energy, £3.3 billion in specialty lines, and £20.1 billion in reinsurance accepted. For U.S. businesses that translates into:

• Property for catastrophe-exposed, high-value or unusual locations, often shared on a subscription basis where several syndicates each take a percentage of a large schedule.
• Casualty and professional lines that admitted carriers decline or limit: high-hazard general liability, excess layers, D&O and E&O for difficult classes.
• Marine, aviation and energy, Lloyd's historical core.
• Specialty risks, which vary by syndicate appetite.
• Small business programs written through coverholders, typically MGAs with a binding authority from one or more syndicates for a defined class, such as habitational property, contractors or niche professional liability.

Individual syndicates publish their own appetites; Lloyd's market directory lists managing agents, brokers and coverholders by class.

Who it insures

Anyone a syndicate is willing to write, in any U.S. state, as long as the placement complies with that state's surplus lines rules. In practice Lloyd's sees business that U.S. admitted carriers have declined or will only take with restrictions: coastal property, wildfire-exposed property, high-hazard contractors, product recall, large professional liability towers, aviation, cargo and energy, and new or emerging exposures. Only syndicates approved by the NAIC and shown on its Quarterly Listing of Alien Insurers may underwrite U.S. surplus lines risks.

Small and mid-sized businesses often have a Lloyd's policy without knowing it, because a coverholder issued it under its own program name. Look for "Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's, London" and a syndicate list on the declarations.

How to buy

You cannot buy directly from Lloyd's. Lloyd's tells prospective buyers to contact a licensed independent agent or broker in their state. Your agent then places the risk through one of three routes:

1. A U.S. coverholder with binding authority for your class, contacted directly by your agent.
2. A U.S. wholesale or surplus lines broker, such as Amwins, CRC Group or Ryan Specialty, which places it with a coverholder or through a London broker (see wholesale brokers and surplus lines placement: how hard risks get insured).
3. A Lloyd's broker in London, of which there were 401 registered at the end of 2025, sometimes the London arm of a global broker.

Each layer may add commission or fees, and the surplus lines broker collects the state's surplus lines tax and stamping fee (see surplus lines taxes, stamping fees and diligent search). Ask your agent which syndicates are on the policy, what share each takes, and who has authority to handle claims.

Claims

Lloyd's does not handle claims centrally. Each syndicate, or the coverholder or third-party administrator it appoints, adjusts claims under the policy, and there is no central Lloyd's policy or claims database. Follow the notice instructions in your policy, which name the party to notify, and report through the agent or broker who placed it. Lloyd's says its New York office cannot accept notices of claim and that notifying Lloyd's is no substitute for notice under the policy.

If a claim or policy question stalls, Lloyd's asks that you first go back to the producer, then your state insurance department; complaints about a Lloyd's policy can be sent to [email protected] with the policyholder's name and address and the broker's details.

Financial strength and ratings

Lloyd's is rated as a single market, because every post-1992 syndicate is backed by the same Chain of Security:

1. Premium trust funds held by each syndicate, the first resource for claims.
2. Funds at Lloyd's, the capital each member posts, set at 1.35 times the syndicate's ultimate solvency capital requirement.
3. Central assets, including the Central Fund, available at the discretion of the Council of Lloyd's to meet any valid claim a member cannot pay. The Central Fund held £3.2 billion of net assets at December 31, 2025, and is reinforced by Central Fund insurance renewed in 2024 for five years.

Lloyd's puts the whole chain at more than $160 billion. Ratings, as listed on its ratings page in October 2026:

• AM Best: A+ (Superior), upgraded from A on August 7, 2024 and affirmed with a stable outlook on July 31, 2025. AM Best cited capitalization at the strongest level and strong operating performance, with catastrophe exposure and a higher expense ratio than peers as offsets.
• S&P Global: AA- (Very strong), since December 2023.
• Fitch Ratings: AA- (Very strong), since June 2014.
• Kroll Bond Rating Agency: AA- since April 2021.

Results: the market reported a 2025 combined ratio of 87.6% and, for the first half of 2026, gross written premium of £34.7 billion and a combined ratio of 90.8%.

Strengths and weaknesses

Lloyd's offers capacity and appetite the U.S. admitted market cannot match for difficult risks, under one strong rating. The cost is distance: more intermediaries, surplus lines taxes, no guaranty fund protection, and claims handled by whichever syndicate or administrator your policy names.

• Strengths: Market-wide A+ (AM Best), AA- (S&P, Fitch) ratings backed by a mutual Central Fund; surplus lines access in every U.S. state and territory; appetite for catastrophe, high-hazard and novel risks; subscription capacity for very large limits.
• Weaknesses: Never direct, so every placement goes through at least one intermediary and often two or three; surplus lines policies are outside state guaranty funds and filed rates; claims service varies by syndicate and coverholder; no admitted U.S. licenses since 2021.

How to contact Lloyd's