Lloyd's finds favour
AT LLOYD'S of London, the best news for years — which is not saying much — is the rush to put money in. The merchant banks are now scrambling to come up with new schemes, and next month Lloyd's ruling council will change its rules and graciously accept their offerings. They want to be up and running for New Year's Day, which Lloyd's hopes will be the start of a good year. Soon, therefore, they will offer share or units in their funds, featuring limited lia- bility, selective management, and the free- dom to buy and sell at the market price — to the envy of Lloyd's members who are in for their last cufflink and cannot part with their liabilities even by death. What non- sense for Lloyd's to say, as it did for so long, that unlimited personal liability was its unique advantage and its cornerstone! What a trap it proved instead, for Lloyd's and for its members! How lucky that the draughtsmen who wrote it into Lloyd's own Act of Parliament have left a hole through which Lloyd's lawyers can now wriggle! From now on, these funds will be the investor's natural way into Lloyd's, and membership will be, as it always used to be, for the professionals or for the birds.
Previous page
