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I worked in the Lloyds market for names agents and underwriters many years ago. During the time when the market suffered a collapse because the rules were being broken and money that it was taken on trust would be held in cash simply wasn't there. It's also directly connected to the bonds and equity markets in terms of the amounts held as collateral against the underwritten risk.
I won't say too much about the 'names' who put the money up but it's common knowledge that it's a popular scheme for landed gentry etc. to make a little more on their investments and no one expects to ever lose.
But yes, it is an ancient industry that shows we were once leading in the provision of networks to support risk in the world. No doubt it supplies some tax revenue whilst supplying profits for the 'wealthy' which are not supposed to be leveraged but in the past have been shown to be.
Airhead-
No doubt it supplies some tax revenue
PWC were hired to investigate how much tax the UK insurance industry contributes to the treasury.
It adds up to just over 2% of total government tax receipts. ~£16bn in 2020.
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suffered a collapse
The LMX spiral?
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which are not supposed to be leveraged but in the past have been shown to be
You can still support 50% of your ‘funds at Lloyds’ with debt. The good wheeze for the aristo Names was pledging some unproductive land as underwriting collateral at a farcical valuation. Unlimited liability not well understood!
For all that, worth remembering that millions of industrial workers got compensated for mesothelioma etc thanks to Lloyds. Avoided some manufacturer bankruptcies (although many eventually occurred).
Stonehedge
Scilly.Suffolk
NickCJ
If you think about something like the Lloyd’s market, a good proportion of the world comes to London to buy and sell insurance. That’s mostly a Good Thing for the UK. It also took 300 years to build and finding an industry to replace it might take a while.
I’ve never subscribed to the view of the manufacturing fetishists that ascribe the weakness of the UK economy to the fact that we don’t “make things” anymore. Truth is, once we had lost the captive Empire markets by the 60s/70s, no-one wanted to buy our shoddy, high-priced goods.