Category: Lloyd's market · Reviewed by Chrissie Anderson, Client Executive · Last reviewed 2026-06-05
Unlimited liability Names were individual underwriting members of Lloyd’s who participated in syndicates with personal, joint and unlimited liability for the syndicate’s underwriting. They were the iconic historical capital base of the Lloyd’s market and the subject of the asbestos and pollution-related crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Category: Lloyd’s market Also known as: individual Names, ULNs, personal Names Related concepts: Names at Lloyd’s, Equitas, Lloyd’s Central Fund
Until 1994 Lloyd’s was capitalised almost entirely by individual Names, with each Name personally and without limit liable for their allocated share of each syndicate’s underwriting losses. Names provided ‘showings of wealth’ (typically £250,000 to £1m, scaled to allocated capacity) and committed their entire personal wealth — homes, investments, future earnings — to the discharge of their underwriting liabilities.
The model produced very large losses for many Names in the late 1980s and early 1990s, driven by the development of US asbestos, pollution and other long-tail liabilities. Many Names were bankrupted; the resulting litigation (the ‘Names litigation’) and the Equitas reinsurance to close arrangement were the central events of the 1990s reconstruction of Lloyd’s.
The unlimited liability framework is governed by the Lloyd’s Acts, the Members’ Trust Deed and the Names’ contractual relationship with the managing agents and Members’ Agents. Following the asbestos crisis, Lloyd’s introduced corporate Name participation in 1994 and progressively reduced reliance on unlimited liability Names.
Today fewer than 1 per cent of Lloyd’s capacity is provided by unlimited liability Names. Those remaining typically participate through Members’ Agent Pooling Arrangements (MAPAs) that diversify their exposure across multiple syndicates. New admissions as unlimited liability Names ceased in 2003; the structure is closed to new entrants.
Existing unlimited liability Names continue to participate on traditional terms, with Funds at Lloyd’s calculated under the Lloyd’s capital model and personal liability behind the FAL for losses exceeding it.
An illustrative example: an individual Name with an allocated capacity of £300,000 participates through a MAPA on twelve syndicates, spreading exposure across classes and managing agents. The Name provides £140,000 of FAL in a mix of cash and listed securities, with personal liability behind the FAL for any losses exceeding the deposited amount. In a profitable year the Name receives distributions; in an adverse year the Name may be required to top up the FAL from personal resources.
This entry is part of the Apex Insurance Wiki. Last reviewed by Matt Bartlett on 2026-06-05. Next review: 2026-12-05.
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