Lloyd’s of New London

Lloyd’s of London is one of the first and one of the most massive insurance companies in the Inner Sphere and the Periphery, with specific sub-divisions in every established powers and beyond to allow for simple transfer of funds and insurance coverage for all involved. Lloyd’s, however, also provide personal services to individuals, including non-ComStar accredited banking during the Succession War era and Mutual Funds investment services and tax-reduction accounting and investment. The claims investigators for the company are also some of the finest private investigators, usually recruited from former military special forces to make sure their mission is resolved efficiently. After their purchase of Pinkertons in 2801, Lloyd’s also provides private security as a complementary service to their insurance operations.

Early Space Age

The early space age was comparable to the Age of Sail for companies like Lloyd’s of London, with companies and individuals spending significant amounts of capital to insure dangerous operations like asteroid mining and colonization. Risk assessment and claims investigation became insanely complex for Lloyd’s, but they remained steadfast in their approach, opening additional local offices and making sure “due economy is observed”. Those various offices ended up being used as trade hubs as well, with the local officers serving as unofficial bankers and electronic trades agents, allowing for trade between systems by individuals and corporations being backed by the Lloyd’s of London seal of guarantees. Even with the collapse of Terran Alliance, Lloyd’s managed to keep minimal contact between their facilities, serving as both banking, insurance and financial services for larger establishments and richer customers.

Age of War and Star League era

Lloyd’s of London moved their head office to New London on Skye after the McKenna coup, with satellite offices remaining on Terra’s British isle. While insurance services did not cover military equipment, life insurance and damage insurance was a massive business during the Age of War. The resulting payouts of the Tintavel disaster would have bankrupted Lloyd’s if not for establishment of multiple “escape clause” in many insurance policies, and the implementation of the Ares Convention came in part due to massive lawsuits and recovery effort by Lloyd’s of New London at the time.

The establishment of the Star League allowed for Lloyd’s to open additional offices in the “far-reaches” of the Inner Sphere and the Periphery. Private enterprises and individuals were happy to spend the necessary capital into insurance if the payouts would be forthcoming. Lloyd’s also made sure to hire as many skilled former military special forces officers to serve as claims investigator, but also as private investigators that you could hire for financial and political criminal investigations.

The Amaris Coup led to a lot of unresolved claims for Lloyd’s as suing and recovering funds from the Kerensky forces was almost impossible and Stefan Amaris did not trust the “foreign entity” which was Lloyd’s of New London. At the resolution of the conflict, Lloyd’s brought several claims to the House of Lords, which managed to payout a small number of claims from Lloyd’s with minimal legal entanglements.

Succession War era

Lloyd’s insurance policies went out the window during the Succession Wars, as widespread destruction of major assets (many of which were insured) had to be converted into “acts of God”. Many large company’s policies went from insuring their entire infrastructure to insuring very specific portions of it, as destruction was seen as inevitable. Pinkerton Security was acquired by Lloyd’s in 2801, which they combined with their own investigative services to provide more comprehensive packages for their clients and their own claims services. Private insurance to mercenary units also increased, not covering their mech damage but generally doing payroll insurance and life insurance.

While ComStar was taking care of a lot of the banking throughout the Inner Sphere, Lloyd’s kept their own financial services available, generally to be used by anyone who didn’t want ComStar to see what was going on, including several of the larger corporations within the Inner Sphere, less savory individuals and people preferring to trade with a non-centralized institution. ComStar did attempt to undermine Lloyd’s business.

Lloyd’s of New London and the Clans

The détente after the War of 3039 and the rediscovery of technologies led Lloyd’s to change a lot of their policies to include more than they used to, but when the Clans slammed straight into the Inner Sphere, those policies were, again, put to the test. Luckily for Lloyd’s, the Clan’s merchant caste already knew of their existence, and were ready to deal with them. While orbital bombardment happened on a few occasions, Lloyd’s was able to quickly and effectively settle claims based on these thanks to their early contacts with the merchant caste. Jade Falcon merchants also established an account with Lloyd’s, followed by the other merchants, leading to the creation of Lloyd’s Clan Insurance Services, which dealt with the merchant and scientist caste directly for loss prevention. Expectedly, the only Clan which did not agree to Lloyd’s presence on their controlled worlds was Clan Smoke Jaguar.

FedCom Civil War

The FedCom civil war was another book to Lloyd’s, who already understood how to provide services during these times of strife, and worked to invest in special funds to allow for repayment of damage and loss of life which the war would cause. While they were rebuffed in their desire to expand into the Clan Homeworlds, Lloyd’s still managed to grow their business during this era by establishing new, smaller satellite offices and payment processors on more isolated world.

Lloyd’s system damaged in the Jihad

Lloyd’s had no longer expected mass-destruction in the same scale as the early Succession Wars, which made their business model not functional during the Jihad. Damage and compensation payouts during the early Jihad period far outmatched the influx of cash, and many offices would have gone under if not for the careful financial planning of the larger sections of the company. The Word of Blake not allowing Lloyd’s agents on their controlled worlds caused issues with investigation of claims as well, but Lloyd’s responded by increasing the funding to their private security (generally Pinkertons’s) and performing interventions at time to verify details. The lack of confidence in ComStar also led to the financial services of Lloyd’s to be used more frequently by “smaller entities”, which let them reinvest funds into other endeavours.

Coming of the ilClan

The Clarion Note was another problem for Lloyd’s, but their own contingency systems which had been in place since before the Age of War. Private message delivery became included in various Lloyd’s packages, and ships travelling between worlds often included a Lloyd’s agent with a pochette of confidential documents to be delivered in person. With Clan Jade Falcon taking over Skye, Lloyd’s moved their headquarters to Tharkad, but keep in communication with New London, hoping that one day they would be able to recover it.

Pinkertons’s order of battle

To become a soldier in Lloyd’s private security company is not difficult: one just needs to go through training at one of their installations, which includes training on financial crimes along with basic military training. Mercenaries can join Pinkertons fairly easily as long as they have a “clean financial record”, but once you’re in, you’re in and can’t get out. To work for Pinkertons is a lifelong endeavor, and the rest of Pinkertons will make sure of that. While combat expertise is what is privileged on the average rank and file member, the elite and officers in Pinkertons also need to be able to do private investigation, especially into financial and political crimes, as well as assist with claims investigators sent by Lloyd’s to various locations. Basic infantry training and police force training is provided, but Pinkertons is always looking for skilled MechWarriors to reinforce their company, especially after the Jihad, where such assets were necessary to protect Lloyd’s other employees.

By 3150, Pinkertons has 3 full regiments of battlemech at their service, spread between their main satellite offices. This is reinforced by a multitude of armored companies and infantry battalions trained to at least the standard of Inner Sphere forces. Clan Insurance Services technically has a Cluster under arms, with association with most of the Clan merchant caste guaranteeing their position in the Clans.

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