Glossary

Glossary of insurance related terms used by Lloyd's and market participants. The following definitions are intended for general guidance. They do not override or qualify any definition that appears in any Lloyd’s byelaw or regulation, in any contract or in any other document.

An asterisk indicates that there is a legal definition of the relevant term in the Lloyd’s Definitions Byelaw. It should be noted that other byelaws may have legal definitions of terms that do not appear in the Definitions Byelaw. Copies of Lloyd’s byelaws may be found here. 

Year of account

The year in which an insurance or reinsurance contract that is underwritten by a syndicate is allocated for accounting purposes and into which all premiums and claims arising in respect of that contract are payable. Insurance or reinsurance contracts are generally allocated to years of account according to the calendar year of their inception date so that a contract that commences in 2005 will normally be allocated to the 2005 year of account. Historically syndicates have operated a three year accounting system which means that each calendar is normally left open for two further years before a profit or loss is determined. A year of account is normally closed by reinsurance to close at the end of 36 months. Compare open year of account and run-off account.

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