| Passage 3 Though the glass building is modern enough, such scenes suggest that little has really changed at London's ancient insurance market. For centuries, brokers and underwriters have performed similar rituals, in good times and in bad notably in the early 1990s, when Lloyd's suffered such huge losses that it almost went under. But since it pulled back from the abyss in 1996, Lloyd's has reinvented itself. It clings tenaciously to its historic trappings; but, in substance, it is as though it had died and come back in a new form. To see how Lloyd' s has changed, look at who invests there. This year, Britain's largest insurer, CGU, has moved its marine operation into Lloyd's. March ＆ McLennan, the world's largest insurance broker, has helped to found a new Bermudian insurer that will underwrite from Lloyd's. And the market has welcomed its first big multinational, Smith Kline BeeCham, a drags giant, which has launched an in-house (or "captive") insurer. Other arrivals read like a Who's of the industry, including Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, Ace, a Bermudian insurer, and America's Paul. This adds up to a ringing endorsement of Lloyd's renewed viability, long-term profitability and competitiveness, none of which could have been taken for granted as recently as 1996. Then the market had racked up the world's biggest-ever commercial loss(8 billion $13 billion)in five years. It had mined at least 1,600 of its 34,000 members ("names") , all underwriting with unlimited liability; some committed suicide. Lloyd's seemed doomed. |