On the Brink

Huge losses very nearly destroyed Lloyd's, a revered British institution, the world's largest insurance market. Ten thousand people faced big personal bills they thought profoundly unfair. They challenged a complacent institution, forcing it to confront its biggest ever crisis. This book tells what really happened, from the inside.

Andrew Duguid holds a degree in economics from the London School of Economics and an MA in marketing from Lancaster University. He began his career at Brunel University, undertaking a research project into forms of export organization, publishing (with Professor Elliott Jaques) Case Studies in Export Organisation.

He worked for an advertising agency, SH Benson, later Ogilvy & Mather, as a marketing executive for four years, before joining the UK civil service. He spent 14 years in the Department of Trade Industry (DTI), including two years as principal private secretary to two cabinet ministers and three years seconded to the No. 10 Policy Unit in the Prime Minister's Office, under Margaret Thatcher. In 1986 he left his DTI undersecretary position to join Lloyd's of London as a senior executive. He worked at Lloyd's for 14 years in several senior roles, including Director, Strategic Planning and Secretary to the Council. He was closely involved in many of the events described in this book. After that he spent four years as a senior executive at a London market insurer, Global Aerospace.