Lloyd’s (often Lloyd’s of London) is an insurance market in London, not a high-street bank and not one ordinary company with a single boss. For hundreds of years it has been the place where very large and unusual risks are insured — ships, aircraft, satellites, natural disasters, even odd one-off bets. Underwriters and syndicates gather there and share the risk. People with a lot of money can become members, traditionally called ‘Names’. A Name puts their own wealth behind the insurance: if the year goes well they share the profit; if claims are huge, they can lose a great deal, in the old days even more than they put in. That is why newspapers talk about Names who were ruined after a bad storm or a big disaster. Though actually, the membership rules have changed over time, and much of the money now comes from big companies, not only rich private Names, but the old word is still used. You will hear Lloyd’s in business news, shipping, and aviation, in a formal register. It is a marketplace: many players, one famous roof. The name goes back to Edward Lloyd’s coffee house in London, where sailors and merchants met to arrange cover for ships.