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»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp UK market for general insurance can be split into two areas, the domestic insurance market and the London market. »Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp London Market is further split into Lloyd’s and the Company Market.

»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp domestic market is a direct insurance market split between a mass market, dealing for example with the needs of individual house-holders and motorists, and a more specialist market catering for the more sophisticated needs of the business community and offering cover for all manner of commercial and financial risks.

»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp London Market is largely international and on a larger scale, incorporating reinsurance. But there is an element of overlap; for example Lloyd’s has syndicates that write motor business which is largely domestic. More detail in GIM1230.

Companies may operate through brokers or agents, through a direct sales force, or direct with the policyholder through the mail, telephone or Internet. A private policyholder, then, may obtain cover in a variety of ways, directly from insurance companies operating through a network of branches or agents, or indirectly through a broker from either a corporate insurer or a Lloyd’s syndicate. Lloyd’s business must be placed through authorised Lloyd’s brokers. Prospective policyholders cannot approach a Lloyd’s syndicate directly, though some motor syndicates run their own distribution chain.

Small commercial risks may be handled in much the same way as private risks. A large commercial concern with complicated needs is likely to have its own insurance department and/or risk manager who will assess the concern’s insurance needs, including the extent to which risk should be retained. Large groups may operate their own captive insurer � see GIM11000.

Apart from compulsory motor insurance, UK residents are free to obtain insurance from insurers outside the UK, and since 1 July 1994 there has been a single market in insurance throughout the EEA with no national boundaries.