The number of Lloyd's names underwriting for 2002 has fallen by over 350, despite huge increases in insurance premiums following the 11 September terrorist attacks on the US.
The insurance market revealed that only 2,490 names would be underwriting this year, compared to 2,852 in 2001.
Names have been withdrawing steadily from the market since the huge losses of the 1980s. At that stage, there were approximately 34,000 names.
The decline for 2002 comes despite Lloyd's decision to accept a record £12.3bn of business for the year.
