25. Lloyd’s continues to thrive as an insurance market in the 21st century
Despite a series of scandals at Lloyd’s in the 1980s which nearly destroyed the company, it recovered and for 2018 posted profits of £4.4 billion after taxes. It controlled about 20% of the global maritime insurance market, though in the United States most people know of the company only through its reputation for insuring items considered by some to be quirky. Lloyd’s doesn’t decide what it will insure and what the cost will be, its syndicates do, through considering the items to be insured through written documents called slips. They decide what portion of the slips they wish to cover.
In the 1950s a European food critic named Egon Ronay, an experienced restauranteur and writer of a food column for The Daily Telegraph, published the first edition of Egon Ronay’s Guide to British Eateries. He refused to accept advertising from the restaurants, pubs, and hotels listed in the guidebook, which was published annually, in order to ensure comments regarding them were open and impartial. He also announced that his taste buds, so critical to his judgment and success, had been insured for $400,000. The insurer was, of course, Lloyd’s. The guides continued to be published until 1997, though Ronay sold his interest in them in 1985.
Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“Slave descendants sue Lloyd’s for billions”. Conal Walsh, The Guardian. March 27, 2004
“British Naval Captains of the Seven Years’ War: The View from the Quarterdeck”. A. B. McLeod. 2012
“History in the Making”. Article, Dr. Adrian Leonard. Insurance Museum. Online
“The Richard Burton Diaries”, Richard Burton. 2012
“HMS Lutine”. Article, Lloyd’s. Lloyds.com. Online
“Lloyd’s of London (1937)”. Article, American Film Institute Database. Online
“Iconic Lloyd’s of London Insurance Policies”. Brian Marx, PSA Financial. January 2, 2013. Online
“8 of the Weirdest Insurance Policies”. Jay MacDonald, Bankrate.com. Fox Business. May 6, 2011
“The Cross-Eyed Comic”. Randor Guy, The Hindu. September 20, 2014. Online
“Titanic Centenary”. Pdf, Lloyds.com. Online
“Lloyds: Insuring the famous and the bizarre”. BBC Business. October 29, 1999
“Lloyd’s Register FAQ”. Lloyd’s Register Foundation. Online
“The Yo-Yo King of Chinatown dies at 90”. John Mackie, The Vancouver Sun. March 13, 2009
“Celebrity Insured Body Parts”. Jill Weinberger, Joseph O’Dell, CNBC. January 3, 2012. Online