Plan to limit Lloyd's losses

(First Edition)

HELP for Lloyd's of London underwriting members who are worried about the prospect of further insurance losses is to be provided through a scheme set up by the insurance broker Steel Burrill Jones.

, writes John Moore.

Through its subsidiary SBJ Harrison Stuart, the broker is providing a new 'stop loss' insurance scheme designed to allow underwriting members to buy protection which that will ensure that their future losses are limited.

In a unusual move Steel Burrill Jones has structured the scheme in a way in which so that the losses will be shared among the members. The underwriting vehicle which that will provide the cover is Integer, a 'mutual' club. The club will be formed of between 1,800 and 3,000 underwriting members who will initially be asked to pay a membership fee of pounds 100 each. The cost of the premiums for those participating in the scheme will be between 1 and 1.5 per cent of allocated premium income.

Integer will in turn lay off its own risks with Centre Re, a subsidiary of the Zurich Insurance Group and insurance syndicates at Lloyd's.

John Harrison, chairman of SBJ Harrison, said yesterday: 'We hope that this will demonstrate the confidence that exists, in the professional insurance market, for the long-term future of Lloyd's'