Lloyd's is stemming the flow of cash heading for rival insurance market Gibraltar, according to market sources.

Lloyd's is said to be concerned about capital outflow, but its fears may be misplaced - particularly in a year when the market will reach a record capacity of £14.25bn.

Gibraltar has had several wins with Zenith, Markerstudy and Admiral moving their capital and operations there.

Gibraltar offers various benefits like enabling companies to set up more quickly, less bureaucracy and lower solvency margins than those required in the UK.

There has been speculation that several Lloyd's syndicates, including Chaucer, were considering defecting to the territory.

But Chaucer managing director Ewen Gilmour said: "We are not actually going to Gibraltar, but we did look at it very carefully for our motor business and found it quite attractive."

He said that eventually the company decided to leave the business at Lloyd's.

One personal lines insurer said he would not consider the move to Gibraltar.

"I cannot believe that any well-established, secure insurance companies would rather set up in Gibraltar than the UK," he said.

"On the whole my brokers would probably not want to deal with a company based in Gibraltar, which is why I am not considering it."

He added that UK regulators would probably also increasingly look at Gibraltar.

Littlejohn Frazer partner Neil Coulson said Gibraltar does not pose a major threat to Lloyd's.

"Gibraltar would not appeal to you unless you are a brand new start-up, or perhaps a personal lines writer at Lloyd's," he said.

He noted that here are some bonuses to setting up in Gibraltar but said: "I am not sure why you would use it rather than the UK."

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