Insurance Brokers

combined premium income of more than	Brokers or intermediaries look for the best
£50 billion per year.	cover for their clients and offer advice on
Lloyd's of London	45 insurance. Their size can range from a simple
Lloyd's is a unique international insurance	one-man operation to a City-based
25 market. Lloyd's is a society of underwriters	international broker with a turnover running
made up of more than 26,000 members or	into millions.
'names' who as private individuals, accept	Brokers place their business with the
insurance risks and are liable for claims to the	50 insurance companies and - if they are
full extent of their personal wealth.	accredited - with Lloyd's. Brokers handle
30 The Members are grouped in some 350	approximately 70% of the general United
syndicates. Business is introduced by Lloyd's	Kingdom insurance business.
broking firms - there are some 240 of them -	British Invisibles, Corporation of London

2 Read the text again and decide if the following statements are true or false:

		T	F
1	Any insurance broker can place business with Lloyd's of London.
2	Lloyd's guarantees to provide cover for almost all risks.
3	The insurance companies handle more business than Lloyd's.
4	A Member of Lloyd's has limited financial liability.
5	The London insurance market attracts little foreign business.

29

Unit fourteen

3 In which of the categories of insurance listed in paragraph 3 would the following be included?

VOCABULARY

1 Find words in the text to describe the people who do the following:

1. act as intermediaries and offer advice to customers about insurance

2. invest in the Lloyd's syndicates as private individuals

3. buy a service

130

2 Match the words from the text with their corresponding definitions.

1 reinsurance (line 5)	a	a request for compensation from someone who is insured
2 life (line 16)	b	the amount of money that an insurance company receives in payments from its customers
3 premium income (line 21)	c	protection through insurance
4 society (line 25)	d	the price at which an insurer would be prepared to accept a risk
5 claim (line 28)	e	a category of insurance related to the inevitability of death
6 syndicate (line 31)	f	an association of people with common interests
7 quotation (line 33)	g	the financial centre of London
8 cover (line 36)	h	a group of Lloyd's members who work as a unit
9 the City (line 46)	i	a way for insurers to reduce their own risks by placing some of their business with other insurers

INSURANCE■

3 Complete the following passage, using words from Exercises 1 and 2, and from the Key Vocabulary section at the beginning of this unit. Change the form of the words where necessary.

Roger Hartfield has recently applied to become a ¹ of a Lloyd's

² This means that he will have to prove that he has a minimum of

£250,000 in capital which can be used as a guarantee for the ³ that

his representatives at Lloyd's will ⁴ If the income from the

⁵ of the customers who insure themselves with his group exceeds

the amount of money that has to be paid out in ⁶ then Roger

Hartfield will make a profit. However, if that is not the case, he may have to sell his house and personal possessions in order to provide them with the necessary ⁷_{………………………………}