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City Research Online City, University of London Institutional Repository Citation: Long, Robert James (1997). A structural analysis of Lloyd's of London. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis, City, University of London) This is the submitted version of the paper. This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link: https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/20858/ Link to published version: Copyright: City Research Online aims to make research outputs of City, University of London available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the author(s) and/or copyright holders. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to. Reuse: Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. 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City Research Online: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/ [email protected] J>Xfs)ö 1 ^ 4 - 2 A STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF LLOYD’S OF LONDON ROBERT JAMES LONG THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF INVESTMENT, RISK MANAGEMENT AND INSURANCE THE CITY UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL LONDON June 1997 CONTENTS List o f Figures v Acknowledgments vii Abstract viii Introduction and overview of thesis ix In. 1 Subject matter of thesis ix In. 2 Methodology x In. 3 Sources of information xv In.4 Overview of thesis xv In. 5 Contribution to knowledge and recommendations for xvii further research Chapter One Overview and Statistics 1 1.0 Introduction 1 1.1 An historical perspective 1 1.2 An overview of Lloyd’s 2 1.3 Lloyd’s accounting system 3 1.4 The course o f business at Lloyd’s 4 1.5 Central resources of Lloyd’s 7 1.6 Technical reserves at Lloyd’s 8 1.7 Statistics relating to Lloyd’s 9 1.8 The capacity o f Lloyd’s, the number o f syndicates, net 10 premium income and profitability 1.9 Business written in Lloyd’s 16 1.10 Reinsurance and direct business written at Lloyd’s 20 1.11 Lloyd’s share of the UK insurance and reinsurance market 23 1.12 Lloyd’s proportion of the world non-life insurance and 28 reinsurance market 1.13 The geographical split o f Lloyd’s business 29 1.14 Summary of statistics 31 1.15 A note on the constituents of the London Market 32 Chapter two Studies on Lloyd’s ' 36 2.1 Introduction 36 2.2 Overview of Lloyd ’ s regulatory status 3 6 2.3 The Lloyd’s Act 1871 37 2.4 The Cromer Report 38 2.5 Self-regulation at Lloyd’s 42 2.6 The Fisher Report and self-regulation 45 l 2.7 The Lloyd’s Bill 48 2.8 The scandals of 1982 49 2.9 Developments since 1982 50 2.10 The Neill Report 51 2.11 Comments on Reports and Acts 1871 to 1986 55 2.12 “Lloyd’s: a route forward” Report of the Task Force 56 2.12.1 Background 56 2.12.2 Major recommendations of the Task Force Report 57 2.13 The losses at Lloyd’s 61 2.14 The Lloyd’s Business Plan 63 2.15 Lloyd’s Reconstruction and Renewal 67 2.16 Conclusion 69 Chapter three The architecture of Lloyd’s and the capital base 72 3.1 Introduction 72 3.2 Architecture 72 3.2.1 Internal architecture of Lloyd’s 72 3.2.2 External architecture of Lloyd’s 78 3.3 The concept of capital 81 3.4 The chain of security at Lloyd’s 84 3.5 The introduction of corporate capital at Lloyd’s 93 3.6 Lloyd’s new capital structure 95 3.7 Recent structural changes in Lloyd’s 105 3.8 Corporate capital and its influence on the structure of 107 Lloyd’s. 3.9 Lloyd’s brokers 111 3.10 Conclusion - the future role of the broker 123 3.11 Should Lloyd’s be established in other countries? 126 Chapter four Two Structural Models: The Porter Model and the Market- 129 Hierarchy-Network Model 4.1 Introduction 129 4.1.1 The Porter Model 129 4.2 The Porter model and the direct insurance market 130 4.2.1 The need for insurance 130 4.2.2 Regulation and consumer pressure 131 4.2.3 Substitutes for insurance 132 4.2.4 The role of suppliers of capital 132 4.2.5 The buyers of insurance 136 4.3 The Porter model and the reinsurance market 137 4.3.1 The reinsurance market and the threat of entry 137 4.3.2 The purchasers of reinsurance 140 4.3.3 The suppliers of capital 141 u 4.3.4 Substitutes for reinsurance 143 4.4 The position of Lloyd’s in the Porter model 144 4.5 The Market-Hierarchy-Network Model 147 4.6 Towards a classification of the structure of Lloyd’s 155 4.7 Current structural changes in the insurance industry 163 Chapter five The nature of cooperation within Lloyd’s 165 5.1 Introduction 165 5.2 The subscription system 165 5.3 Developing a structural model of Lloyd’s 169 5.4 Towards a model of Lloyd’s 176 5.5 Institutions comparable to Lloyd ’ s 178 5.6 The operations of the Illinois Insurance Exchange 179 5.7 Regulation of the Illinois Insurance Exchange 181 5.8 Comparison of the Illinois Insurance Exchange and Lloyd’s 182 Chapter six Innovation, entrepreneurism and Lloyd ’s 184 6.1 Introduction 184 6.2 The nature of entrepreneurship 184 6.3 Theories of entrepreneurism 186 6.4 Attributes of the entrepreneur 189 6.5 The entrepreneurial organisation 190 6.6 The entrepreneurial nature of Lloyd’s syndicates 195 6.7 Corporate entrepreneurship and Lloyd’s 201 6.8 Entrepreneurism and the introduction of incorporated capital 208 Chapter seven The reputation of Lloyd’ s 216 7.1 Introduction - what is reputation? 216 7.2 Reputation and Lloyd’s 221 7.3 Who owns the reputation of Lloyd’s? 224 7.4 Conclusion 231 Chapter eight Conclusions and recommendations 235 8.1 Conclusions and recommendations 235 8.2 Recommendations for regulatory reform 236 8.3 The influence of corporate capital on the architecture 241 o f Lloyd’s 8.4 The Central Fund 244 8.5 Conclusion: The future structure of Lloyd’s 245 iii LIST OF FIGURES 1.1 The capacity of Lloyd ’ s Between pages 10 and 11 1.2 The number of Names as at 1 st January Between pages 11 and 12 1.3 (a) The profitability of Lloyd’s 13 1.3 (b) The profitability of Lloyd ’ s Between pages 13 and 14 1.4 The number of Lloyd’s syndicates from 1948 to 1996 Between pages 14 and 15 1.5 Distribution of syndicates by size 15 1.6 Net premium income to Lloyd’s Between pages 15 and 16 1.7 Ratio of net premium income to gross capacity Between pages 15 and 16 1.8 Gross premium income 16 1.9 Classification of business written at Lloyd’s into the 17 five traditional markets 1.10 Net ceded premium 18 1.11 Classification of net premium income into the five 19 traditional Lloyd’s markets 1.12 Calendar year gross premiums split into direct and 21 reinsurance 1.13 Breakdown of calendar year gross premium split into 22 direct and reinsurance 1.14 Lloyd’s premiums processed through LPSO 23 1.15 General business gross written premium income in £m 25 1.16 General business net written premium income in £m 25 1.17 Lloyd’s revenue figures. Gross of ceded reinsurance, 26 net of brokerage 1.18 Lloyd’s revenue figures. Gross of ceded reinsurance, 27 gross of brokerage 1.19 Lloyd’s revenue figures net of ceded reinsurance and 28 gross of brokerage 1.20 Geographical provenance of Lloyd’s gross premium Between pages 30 and 31 income (gross of ceded reinsurance and net of brokerage) 2.1 Percentage expense ratios of Lloyd’s and various 59 companies 2.2 The Lloyd’s Central Fund 63 3.1 The structure of Lloyd’s pre Task Force Report (1991) 74 3.2 Recommended structure of the Council of Lloyd’s and Between pages 75 and 76 the Market and Regulatory Boards as proposed by the Morse Report 3.3 Security o f a Lloyd’s policy Between pages 87 and 88 3.4 Lloyd’s capital structure from 1994 onwards 97 3.5 Lloyd’s allocated capacity 1990-96 101 3.6 Lloyd’s licenses 111 3.7 Shares of Lloyd’s total premiums placed by the largest 118 broker groups, 1993 4.1 The Porter Model Between pages 130 and 131 v Applying the Porter model to the direct insurance Between pages 131 and 132 market Applying the Porter model to the reinsurance market Between pages 131 and 132 4.4 The twenty largest reinsurers in the world 138 4.5 Applying the Porter model to Lloyd’s Between pages 146 and 147 4.6 Organisational forms 148 4.7 Stylized comparison of forms of economic organisation 154 4.8 Structures present within Lloyd’s 162 5.1 A descriptive model of Lloyd’s Between pages 178 and 179 5.2 A comparison of the features of the Illinois Insurance 183 Exchange and Lloyd’s 6.1 The underwriting structure of two syndicates 194 6.2 1995 Airline leads 197 6.3 Corporate capital at Lloyd’s 208 8.1(a) The current management and regulatory structure (as Between pages 239 and 240 given in the Morse Report) and the proposed new management and regulatory structure 8.1(b) The composition of the Regulatory and Market Boards Between pages 239 and 240 and the proposed composition of the Business Development Board 8.2 The average capacity of syndicates from 1967 to 1996 Between pages 241 and 242 8.3 Analysis of managing agent alignment Between pages 242 and 243 8.4 1997 corporate members with insurance industry Between pages 244 and 245 involvement vi Acknowledgments I am grateful to my supervisor, Prof.