Editing Lloyd's of London (section)

===Businesses at Lloyd's===
[[File:Inside Lloyd's of London.jpg|thumb|right|Interior escalators linking the underwriting floors of the Lloyd's building]]
There are two classes of people and firms active at Lloyd's. The first are members, or providers of capital. The second are agents, brokers, and other professionals who support the members, underwrite the risks and represent outside customers (for example, individuals and companies seeking insurance, or insurance companies seeking reinsurance).

====Members====
For most of Lloyd's history, rich individuals known as Names backed policies written at Lloyd's with all of their personal wealth and took on unlimited liability. Since 1994, Lloyd's has allowed corporate members into the market, with [[limited liability]]. The asbestosis losses in the early 1990s devastated the finances of many Names: upwards of 1,500 out of 34,000 Names (4.4 per cent) were declared bankrupt. This scared away other potential Names. In 2011 individual Names provide only 11 per cent of capacity at Lloyd's, with UK-listed and other corporate members providing 30 per cent and the remainder via the international insurance industry.<ref name=lloydspub>{{cite web |url=http://www.lloyds.com/~/media/Files/Lloyds/Investor%20Relations/2011/Annual%20results/Documents/AR2011_Lloyds_2011_Annual_Report.pdf |title=Lloyd's Annual Results 2011 |publisher=Lloyd's of London |date=31 December 2011 |access-date=28 September 2012 |archive-date=14 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114174406/http://www.lloyds.com/~/media/Files/Lloyds/Investor%20Relations/2011/Annual%20results/Documents/AR2011_Lloyds_2011_Annual_Report.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> 

No new Names with unlimited liability are admitted, and the importance of individual Names will continue to decline as they slowly withdraw, convert (generally into [[limited liability partnership]]s), or die. In 2014, Names with unlimited liability provided just 2 per cent of the overall capacity in Lloyd's.{{cn|date=September 2023}}

====Managing agents====
Managing agents sponsor and manage syndicates. They canvas members for commitments of capacity, create the syndicate, hire underwriters, and oversee all of the syndicate's activities. Managing agents may run more than one syndicate, as borne out in the fact that in 2023 the 78 syndicates writing business at Lloyd's were operated by just 51 managing agents.<ref name=AnnualReport2021/>

====Members' agents====
Members' agents co-ordinate the members' underwriting and act as a buffer between Lloyd's, the managing agents and the members. They were introduced in the mid-1970s and grew in number until many went bust; many of the businesses merged, and there are now only four left (Argenta, Hampden, Alpha and LMAS, which has no active Names). It is mandatory that unlimited Names write through a members' agent, and many limited liability members also choose to do so.

====Lloyd's coverholder====
Coverholders are a major source of business for Lloyd's. Their numbers have grown steadily in recent years and in 2021 there were 4,054,<ref name=AnnualReport2021/> producing an increasingly meaningful share of the market's overall premium income. The balance of Lloyd's business is distributed around the world through a network of brokers.

Coverholders allow Lloyd's syndicates to operate in a region or country as if they were a local insurer. This is achieved by Lloyd's syndicates delegating their underwriting authority to coverholders. A coverholder can have restricted or full authority to underwrite specified business on behalf of a Lloyd's syndicate. It will usually issue the insurance documentation and will often also handle claims. The document setting out the terms of the coverholder's delegated authority is known as a binding authority.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lloyds.com/The-Market/I-am-a/Coverholder/Prospective-Coverholder/Tell-me-more-about-coverholders |title=Tell me more about coverholders – Coverholder – Lloyd's |publisher=Lloyds.com |access-date=22 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310190019/http://www.lloyds.com/The-Market/I-am-a/Coverholder/Prospective-Coverholder/Tell-me-more-about-coverholders |archive-date=10 March 2012 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

====Lloyd's brokers====
Outsiders, whether individuals or other insurance companies, cannot transact business directly with Lloyd's syndicates. They must hire an approved Lloyd's broker, who are the only customer-facing organisations at Lloyd's. They are therefore often referred to as intermediaries. Lloyd's brokers shop customers' risks around the syndicates, trying to obtain the best coverage and most competitive terms.

====Integrated Lloyd's vehicles====
When corporations became admitted as Lloyd's members, they often disliked the traditional structure. Insurance companies did not want to rely on the underwriting skills of syndicates they did not control, so they started their own. An integrated Lloyd's vehicle (ILV) is a group of companies that combines a corporate member, a managing agent, and a syndicate under common ownership. Some ILVs allow minority contributions from other members, but most now try to operate on an exclusive basis.