BIG CHANGES FOR LLOYD’S

Last October, Lloyd’s produced a working document entitled “Developing Broker Relationships,” which proposed sweeping changes in the accreditation and regulation of Lloyd’s brokers. Now the results of that study have been announced, and major changes will be in place as of Jan. 1, 2001. For the first time the Lloyd’s market in London will be open to overseas brokers, who can thus place business directly with Lloyd’s syndicates without going through a British Lloyd’s broker. In place of the regulations adopted in the 1980s, Lloyd’s has adopted a system that requires all brokers to meet the standards of the General Insurance Standards Council (GISC) and Lloyd’s accreditation criteria. Brokers, principally those in Europe and North America, will therefore be on an equal footing with their U.K. peers.