The membership of Lloyd's includes a number of different types of member:

• Individual members or 'Names' are high net worth individuals whose exposure to the insurance risks they underwrite is unlimited.
• Corporate members are limited liability companies (or Scottish Limited Partnerships) formed exclusively to underwrite insurance business at Lloyd’s.
• NameCos are limited companies and one type of corporate member. Originally namecos were owned by one or more former individual members as a mechanism to convert their unlimited underwriting into limited liability. However, over time namecos have been sold on, and namecos have been formed to enable both new individual and new corporate capital providers to participate in Lloyd's.
• Scottish Limited Partnerships (SLPs) are limited partnerships established in Scotland which are formed for the same reason as NameCos. Over time SLPs have also been used by new individual and new corporate providers to participate in Lloyd's.
• Group Conversion Vehicles are limited companies or SLPs and are formed to enable groups of individual members to convert their unlimited underwriting.

The term 'corporate member' is widely used to describe all of the types of member above with the exception of individual members.

Source: Lloyd's Members' Services Unit, January 2005

The number of members of Lloyd’s has been contracting since the mid-1990s. Changes in corporate membership reflect the balancing effects of rationalisation and conversion of individual members to limited liability.

Source: Lloyd's Members' Services Unit, January 2005

The number of active members of Lloyd's has declined again in 2005:

• Individual members down over 20%* from 2,048 in 2004 to 1,625 in 2005.
  
  
• Corporate members down 6%* from 752 in 2004 to 705 in 2005.

Source: Lloyd's Members' Services Unit, January 2005

A large majority of the remaining members of Lloyd's are not actively underwriting any more. However, they must remain members of Lloyd's until all their liabilities have been calculated and reinsured.

*Source for all figures: Lloyd's Members' Services Unit, January 2005