PAGE- 19- LLOYD'S OF LONDON A BRITISH INSURANCE MARKET

Lloyd's of London is a British insurance market. It serves as a meeting place where multiple financial backers or “members”, whether individuals (traditionally known as “Names”) or corporations, come together to pool and spread risk. Unlike most of its competitors in the reinsurance market, it is not a company. The Society of Lloyd's was incorporated by Lloyd's Act 1871
Formation
The market began in Edward Lloyd's coffeehouse around 1688 in Tower Street, London. His establishment was a popular place for sailors, merchants, and shipowners and Lloyd catered to them with reliable shipping news. The shipping industry community frequented the place to discuss insurance deals among themselves. Just after Christmas 1691, the coffee shop relocated to Lombard Street (a blue plaque commemorates this location). This arrangement carried on long after Lloyd's death in 1713 until 1774 when the participating members of the insurance arrangement formed a committee and moved to the Royal Exchange as The Society of Lloyd's.

Between 1688 and 1807, one of the primary sources of Lloyd's business was the insurance of ships engaged in slave trading, as Britain established itself as the chief slave trading power in the Atlantic. Slave trading became one of the primary constituents of all British trade, and its dangers meant that insurance of the ships was a major concern. With slave-trading forming such a prominent part of Lloyd's business, the organisation was one of the chief opponents to abolition of the trade