Lloyd's crisis did not dent underwriters' pay increases

THE NUMBER of Lloyd's insurance underwriters paid more than pounds 100,000 by their syndicates rose last year from 153 to 162, despite the growing crisis in the market, according to an analysis by the Association of Lloyd's Members.

The top-paying non-marine syndicate was Janson Green 386 where the underwriter, R J Wallace, earned pounds 412,000. The best-paid marine syndicate was Claremount number 2, where C R Hill earned pounds 276,000.

The ALM also found that syndicate expenses soared in the two years to the disastrous 1989 account. The costs of running the syndicates rose from pounds 275m in the 1987 account to pounds 561m in 1989, a year in which expenses accounted for 31 per cent of total losses.

The biggest loss-makers were Gooda Walker marine syndicate number 298, which lost pounds 42,000 for every pounds 10,000 put up, and Feltrim non-marine number 847, where the equivalent loss was nearly pounds 37,000. At the other end of the spectrum, Bankside non-marine 45 produced a 40 per cent pre-tax profit.

The ALM said commercial prospects were improving and future underwriting should be viewed more positively. But it believed asbestosis and pollution liabilities remained the most serious problems facing the market.

It said names should consider very carefully with their agents whether they should continue to support any syndicate with 'long-tail' exposure to the US, unless the managing agent had left an earlier year open, or was now prepared to do so.