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Lloyd's of London to beef up 2023 business planning process

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Lloyd's of London will change its business planning process in 2023 in a bid to close the gap between the planned and actual results of the market's syndicates.

"We want to ensure a full understanding of the volatility around profitability and we want to increase the robustness of plans," Patrick Tiernan, Lloyd's chief of markets, said on a webinar.

More stringent measures may have little or no impact on many syndicates, but Lloyd's hopes they will make sure stronger ones are not being "held back by the weakest in the herd," Tiernan said.

Changes to the planning process include new requirements for syndicates to show how they derive expected losses from loss ratios envisioned by actuaries and for them to provide details on the sources of their growth.

Lloyd's envisions a cut in the market's expense ratio to 35.9% from 36.3% for 2022, but Tiernan said more work was required to show that Lloyd's was closing the gap with non-Lloyd's peers on expenses.

Syndicate goals in the coming year

Syndicate business plans for 2022 envision a 14.7% growth in gross written premium at Lloyd's to £43.7 billion. Lloyd's is targeting a combined ratio, which measures non-life underwriting performance, of less than 95% for the marketplace. Tiernan said Lloyd's had allowed net growth in exposure for the first time in four years, as previous remediation work ensured that the market was positioned for sustainable, profitable growth despite elevated catastrophe activity in the third and fourth quarters.

The expected growth is driven by syndicates subject to light-touch and standard oversight by Lloyd's, which have planned increases in gross written premium of 16% and 13%, respectively. Those subject to high-touch oversight, typically the worst performers, expect to grow gross written premium by 7%. Poor performers' share of the Lloyd's market has fallen by more than 10%, Tiernan added.

The 2022 plans envisage lower risk-adjusted price increases than 2021, but they should be viewed as a floor, not a target, Tiernan said, especially in light of more challenging inflation trends. The consequences of getting pricing wrong in this environment "are severe for future reserving adequacy," the Lloyd's market chief said, urging syndicates to price inflation into their rates.

"We do not want to give up the progress made in the last three years," Tiernan said.

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Creating a business growth plan

DESIGN A SUSTAINABLE AND CUSTOMER FOCUSED STRATEGY

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If you've been planning to grow your business, a business growth plan is integral to creating an actionable path to achieve your goals. In this course we will discuss what business growth plans are, why they are important, and how you can write one for your business. We will also explore the main growth strategies, top tips for writing your business growth plan, how you can turn your plan into an executable roadmap, and look at some helpful software for managing growth.

KEY LEARNINGS

• Understand what a business growth plan is for
• Examine why they are important
• Explore key strategies for growth
• Learn what should be included in a business growth plan and how to create one
• Understand how to leverage your business growth plan as a roadmap for success

What is a business growth plan?

Growth plans explained.

In contrast to a business plan (which focuses on a 3 to 5 year timeframe), a business growth plan is a methodical way of prioritising your organisation's ambitions for the near future and tends to cover a shorter period - from 3 to 24 months. It sets out business growth goals and targets on a timeline, and details clear strategies for reaching them. Armed with these clear growth objectives and timeline, organisations can then produce an actionable roadmap that schedules tasks, delegates responsibilities and introduces systems to achieve their growth outcomes in the desired timeframe. At the end of each quarter, your organisation should review its plan and look at the goals met and missed, taking into account any changes in the marketplace. This will help you to stay on track with your plan.

Reasons for growth

There are a number of reasons for creating a growth plan. You may have identified increased competition, or you may have several growth ambitions that need to be prioritised and managed sustainably. Perhaps the most important and common reason for creating a growth plan is increasing sales. To do this, it's important to look ahead and plan how to convert potential customers and leads into solid business outcomes. This may include identifying and developing skills or processes, or seeking to leverage trends and opportunities in the marketplace. So, for example, a growth plan could help you achieve sales targets by introducing a valuable new service to a new target audience, having implemented a marketing strategy that generates the right kinds of leads.

Enhancing or improving existing products and services or entering a new market are the most impactful growth strategies for small UK businesses, but 1 in 4 small businesses don't have any strategy in place to support their business growth.

Why write a business growth plan?

Your plan should be an actionable strategy.

In order to achieve your growth goals, it's essential to have an actionable strategy that defines your objectives, and details how you plan to manage these changes.

The benefits of creating a business growth plan

Growth is fundamental to a business' survival. With 20% of new businesses failing during the first two years of being open, 45% during the first five years, and  65% during the first 10 years , we can see how important it is to evolve a business plan for growth from day one, and capitalise on opportunities.

Clarity for the steps ahead

A business growth plan provides clarity for the steps ahead, helping organisations to prioritise and plan for success. Creating this solid structure means you can evaluate your current performance and uncover further opportunities for growth. It can also help you foresee and manage external risks, like market volatility and inflation.

Aligning goals with actions and assessing capabilities

A business growth plan provides support for strategic choices - it helps an organisation to understand its unique capabilities and back them up in a plan that clarifies mission, insights, integration, processes, technology, and talent. Managing everyday operations sustainably, and communicating growth objectives and responsibilities to the wider organisation, is essential for achieving targets with focus and efficiency.

Investor confidence

When investors and stakeholders look at your organisation - especially when navigating a turbulent time - you can give them the confidence of a clear road map for expansion and the management of risk. Having a considered vision and steps for progress will attract and retain talent too, affording further opportunity for meaningful growth.

Now you've read about the importance of business growth planning, write down your ideas. Consider the places where you can see opportunities for growth or expansion.

Four strategies for growth

There are four main growth strategies with different areas of focus that will help you build your brand, and expand in the marketplace.

These strategies are:

• Market strategy  - This is about identifying who your users are and how you target them. Perhaps it's time for a new ad campaign that raises brand awareness, a new marketing platform, or perhaps you need to adjust your prices to add value for the customer. Rather than entering a new market or creating new products or services, market strategy is focused on leveraging what you currently have to offer, and communicating it with more impact
• Development  - If you are struggling to grow in your current market and have identified a new opportunity elsewhere, development strategy focuses on helping you break into a new market. Perhaps your services or products could benefit from exposure in an entirely different sector or industry. Expanding your offering to a new market requires market research, so your campaigns can align with your new clientele's needs and buying behaviours. Take Google for example: in 2016 they capitalised on their strong brand image and software expertise to  grow into a new market  and started making smartphones
• Product strategy  - Sometimes referred to as product development, this strategy is about developing a new product or service for your current audience. Instead of entering a new market, the idea is to enhance your existing offering with products or services that your current audience would benefit from. Consider what your customers are asking for. You might introduce a complementary service that adds value to the customer's journey, a new software, or bespoke support. Think about what new solutions you could provide to boost product value and maximise customer spending with your organisation
• Diversification  - Diversification focuses on the expansion of products, services and target markets. This is about not putting all your eggs in one basket. For example, in 2001 Apple diversified by introducing the iPod, followed by iTunes in 2003 and the iPhone in 2007. To achieve this, they leveraged the operational and manufacturing capabilities of their computer offering. This meant Apple could use similar resources and design principles whilst adding value to their current audience, and attracting new customers

Sharing your plan for growth with key employees will help the workforce understand their part in the bigger picture, motivating everyone to work together toward a common goal.

Please note:

Depending on your objectives, it's important to review your financial position and plan your strategy before committing to growth.

Key information to consider:

• Market share and penetration  - If costs increase but your market share remains the same, you may start to make a loss. A business growth plan helps you to avoid this
• Recovering losses  - In its infancy, an organisation may lose far more than it earns. Growth planning is vital in order to recover losses and pay off debts
• Future risk  - More established organisations also benefit from growth planning. They can make their sales processes more efficient, meaning greater liquidity. Extra revenue allows an organisation to future-proof their actions and save for a rainy day
• Investors  - Whilst a business growth plan is beneficial to the organisation as a whole, investor confidence is key. Investors will want to see an outline of how an organisation plans to build up and expand
• Revenue  - Every organisation is different, but when it comes to making a business growth plan, the simple question is: How do we plan to make money this year/quarter?

What to include in your business growth plan?

Key elements to include.

To ensure you are covering all bases when building your business growth plan, take a look at the following key elements and how they contribute to your overall strategy.

Marketing objectives

A marketing plan maps how you will communicate with your target audience. It will help you to identify who your product or service is for, the market needs it meets, and how you differ from your competitors. Marketing plans are a key part of business growth planning; integral to brand awareness, sales strategy, and brand direction; they help you to refine and convey your message effectively. Your marketing plan will be customised to your business, but should contain: your goals and strategies to achieve them, how you will quantify your success and report progress, how you will execute the plan, and the human resources, departments, and software that will be involved. Your business growth plan should use and include the aims and objectives of your marketing plan.

Expansion opportunities

Identify and detail the areas in which expansion may be possible and make sure to plan. Take UK start-up  Habito  for example. They started out as a comparison site for users to find and apply for mortgages, and now offer lifetime fixed mortgages and a home-buying service. Expansion for your organisation could mean creating new products or services, targeting a new audience, opening new locations, or even going global. Bear in mind however that expanding too fast without a strategy in place can result in any meaningful stake in the market being undermined. Expansion doesn't simply mean doing the same thing on a larger scale, but if you keep monitoring and updating your processes as you grow, expansion will ultimately be good for your organisation. Just be mindful that it can throw up a number of challenges. In his book, The Complete Guide to Running & Growing Your Business, Andrew J. Sherman advises that: “The need of the organisation to grow must be tempered by the need to understand that meaningful, long-term, profitable growth is a by-product of effective management and planning.” Be ambitious in your vision, just make sure you plan for each stage effectively.

Operational information

Your growth plan should include an assessment of your operations, logistics and computer networks to determine if they can accommodate growth. Consider where your business is based, who your suppliers are and what equipment you need. If you are planning to engage with leads in a new sector or industry, you might - for example - design a new customer acquisition process using an online lead generation tool to help you engage with a large number of leads in a scalable and automated format. Failing to assess operational elements effectively could result in your infrastructure being overwhelmed. So, plan ahead and avoid operational issues stunting your growth.

People power

Your plan should include a breakdown of your staffing requirements and responsibilities. This will give you a clear picture of the road ahead for current and future personnel. By nurturing your current personnel as they adjust to the changing environment, you are minimising the risk of losing them in the expansion process. It's worth acknowledging however that although business growth can afford employees great opportunities, it can sometimes trigger the departure of staff that are unable to adjust. Going forward, growth will likely mean hiring more staff, so be prepared and expand the reach of your search in order to recruit a diverse and effective workforce. For new or smaller businesses not in a position to hire full time staff, outsourcing can be very cost-effective. You might need specialist support with the creation of a new service, an expert eye when designing your marketing materials, or you may wish to seek partners or associates who can support in promoting your new offering. Outsourcing allows you to complete projects successfully without hiring expensive skill sets that you won't need full time.

Financial information

Detailed financial planning will help to manage your assets and resources effectively during expansion. Make sure you know what capital you will be able to access during the growth period, including profit and loss forecasts, cash flow forecasts, sales forecasts, and audited accounts. You may also choose to request funding, and providing financial information to lenders will be essential. Considering the current financial liquidity and assets of your business in the creation of your growth plan can help you to understand how it's financially possible to achieve your goals. Finding expansion capital at the last minute can be frustrating and could undermine your efforts, so avoid the pitfalls by revising your financial plan regularly.

Business objectives

It's helpful to summarise your organisation's objectives in your growth plan, including targets and target dates. There may be a larger objective you wish to achieve through implementing new growth strategies, so think about how your growth goals contribute to your long term business plan. For example, the company mission might be to expand from the UK into mainland European markets in the next five years. Consider how this long term goal is centred through your growth plan and the strategies you will be implementing.

Personal objectives

For example, if you own your business and are thinking about selling or moving away from the top job moving forward, you may want to include an exit plan for yourself. If your expansion does include an exit plan, it should be focused on maximising your company's value prior to your exit, and ensuring you are personally and financially prepared.

Customer service can face challenges during expansion - be sure to keep on top of interactions and maintain high standards, to avoid losing valued users.

A roadmap for success

Creating a business roadmap.

Now we've outlined what a growth plan is and how to write one, let's look at turning it into an actionable plan. A business roadmap is a visualisation of an organisation's major objectives. This is a strategic document that lights the way to success. Your business growth plan is pivotal to your roadmap, as it allows you to explore the intricacies of your big picture goals. You may have heard this terminology used in relation to project or product management; the concept is transferable and provides a succinct and flexible document which factors in key goals, dates and plans of action relevant to all stakeholders.

How to use your growth plan to build a roadmap for success

Detailed business growth plans are vital, but they can be difficult to pick through - a roadmap will illustrate an overall, cross-departmental strategy that sends a clear message. Here's how to use your growth plan to build a roadmap for success:

Identify key milestones

Break down the big picture goals. Think about what you want to achieve in 1 week, 1 month, 6 months, a year. A good place to start is to determine your end result and then work backwards, identifying the steps that will help you get there. Once you've identified these milestones, set targets against them. For example, you might decide that your key milestone is to achieve £1m in sales in the next financial year. Now you can allocate this into monthly or quarterly targets along with your chosen strategies to meet them.

Break down your milestones

Your growth plan should offer detailed, short-term strategies broken down into smaller actions and steps, so you can see exactly how to achieve your long-term goals. For example, to achieve your key milestone of £1m in sales in the next financial year, you'll need to raise £100,000 in Q1, £300,000 in Q2 and so on. You can now align these targets with the promotion and sale of new products, or the implementation of another growth strategy. The roadmap helps you to see the end goal, break down actions, manage time effectively, and organise resources.

Assign responsibilities against your targets

Delegate smaller actions and steps to spread the weight of the big picture, ensuring things get done to a timeframe. Having a clear timeline will provide a concise overview of projects and deadlines team by team. For example, the marketing and sales teams may need extra support, training and empowerment to work towards their expansion target of £1m. By plotting each department's growth strategy over a predetermined period, your organisation will be able to assess each team's time, resources and input in relation to an overall initiative. Each department needs to know how their work is contributing to the growth of the organisation.

Schedule regular check-ins

Communicate with employees and ensure you are all working toward a common goal - your business roadmap is really useful for teams to understand their role and how they are contributing to the big picture. Once the overall goal is understood, departments can work toward it and check back in if they feel their work is veering off track. It may be beneficial to schedule additional check-ins. You can also leverage project management tools and applications to enhance that communication. What's more, employees can offer an important perspective in the evolution of your organisation's roadmap by providing insights 'on the ground.' Listen to feedback and be prepared to adjust.

Define features and requirements

Give coherent and transparent definitions of what is required, so everyone is on the same page. The strategy is your 'why' and the features - the characteristics that set a product or service apart - are your 'what.' Once those are defined, you can work together to find out 'how.' For example, when introducing an enhanced sales process to convert more leads to customers, the associated features might include a sales funnel tool or a new customer relationship management system (CRM).

Determine your key measurement criteria

Pay attention to how you measure your progress. Perhaps you are using smart data, key performance indicators (KPIs), feedback, or a combination of these things. There are a number of tools and software available that can help you track your performance on the way to achieving your growth goals. Whatever tools decide to use, be sure to have clear cut criteria to measure against.

• Not sure where to start when it comes to measuring your progress? Use this handy checklist:
• Examine your stakeholders' needs and expectations
• Decide on the metrics that will be used for each project
• Decide on the target values and threshold values for these metrics
• Review the metrics and their values with your stakeholders for approval and buy-in
• Select the tools and techniques which are best placed to measure and monitor these metrics

Implement and review regularly

Use your data insights, feedback, market research and other reporting mechanisms to review and update your roadmap on a regular basis. For example, if you are aware that a specific marketing strategy is not working or bringing the desired results, it may be necessary to change the style, communication method or even the platform used to reach your target audience. The structures you put in place to measure your progress should be leveraged, not just left on reports. Don't be afraid to adjust your plan as you grow - your roadmap will become more precise as you move forward.

Here are some tools that help you to implement your growth goals:

• Asana  is an excellent collaboration tool. It organises work so teams know exactly what to do, why it matters, and how to get it done. With built in timelines, reporting, and app integration features, Asana can help you streamline the breakdown of tasks to realise your big picture goals
• Trello  is a project management tool that automates tedious tasks and offers teams the chance to collaborate more effectively. It's a digital whiteboard of sticky notes that tells you who is working on what and when: a straightforward platform that's ideal for straightforward projects
• Microsoft Excel  takes the legwork out of organising your data by learning your patterns. It's a popular software for business analysis and is useful for creating budgets and forecasting future performance
• Notion  is a customisable all-in-one workspace that combines your everyday apps. Daily work and big picture knowledge live side by side, so you never lose context. You can also make use of community-made templates, and find resources and support from a global ecosystem of creators

Creating Your Roadmap: Do's and Don'ts

Do's and don'ts when creating a roadmap.

Now we've looked in detail at what's involved in creating a roadmap, let's explore some of the key Do's and Don'ts when building your organisation's roadmap for success.

• Be specific  - Decide exactly what you want to achieve and what success will look like. Then set goals and targets that are clear and measurable. Larger goals should be broken down into a timeline - this will provide an overview of projects with set team-by-team deadlines
• Be ambitious  - Your goal should be challenging, motivating, and stretch the organisation's capabilities and potential. If the goals are inspiring, your team is more likely to buy into the vision and give their best. There's nothing more demotivating than working on a task because you've been told to; laying out an ambitious roadmap means employees can see the big picture, giving them their 'why?'
• Set clear timeframes and stick to them  - Be realistic about when you will complete tasks, in order to stay on track. Once you are clear on your overarching objective, make sure you are setting time frames for each milestone on your map to ensure the realistic realisation of your goals
• Be practical  - Think carefully about whether you can realistically meet your objectives and if you will need extra support. Once you've broken down your goals and set your time frames, look carefully at your staff and resources, factoring in any further support you may need. It's better to do this at the beginning and be prepared, than to take a chance and get caught out later without a plan and budget to seek help
• Be flexible where possible  - Run your projects with a methodical approach, but be ready to reassess and adapt when required. Your plans will evolve, but that doesn't mean your meticulous strategy was redundant. Make peace with letting go of aspects that no longer serve you along the way
• Test and learn  - Part of your plan's evolution will rely on rigorous testing of your strategy. Use your findings to understand where you need to improve and how you will address issues. It may take time to rectify challenges, so be patient. If you have to change something, give it time to embed before making any other changes and assess the impact it has
• Carefully manage risk  - Although risks need to be calculated, you can still be courageous in exploring new strategies. Calculated risk means considering the risk against the pay off. Change doesn't come without some risk, just make sure you balance it and protect yourself
• Assign budgets to specific purposes  - Put restrictions on your funding so that it can only be used for a specific purpose on your growth plan. Ring fencing your funds in this way will help you protect your assets and ensure every penny is specifically invested
• Track and measure your success  - Determine what systems to use for effective project management, ensuring project outcomes, targets and progress are clearly communicated and measured

• Be vague  - Avoid indefinite and unclear wording of your goals and targets, such as 'increase growth' or 'improve our marketing'
• Put yourself under too much pressure  - Remain patient and realistic, and avoid getting into the habit of working around the clock
• Try to achieve too much  - Big goals are achieved in smaller steps, so plan and manage your growth with realistic deadlines and ensure all steps between the big goals are manageable
• Create a rigid, long-term plan  - The marketplace is dynamic and forever changing, so maintain flexibility in your plan and the strategies you have chosen to use

Summary and next steps

So far, we've covered:.

• What makes a good business growth plan, and why they are so important for an organisation's healthy expansion in terms of market share and penetration, recovering losses, managing future risk, financial planning, and investor confidence
• The four main strategies for growth:  market strategy  - how you target your users;  development  - breaking into new markets;  product strategy  - what new products or services you can offer to target your current market;  diversification  - expanding products, services and target markets
• Top tips for writing your plan like thinking ahead, identifying opportunities, evaluating your team and leveraging advice
• How your business growth plan can become part of your roadmap for success - a big picture strategy that encapsulates the organisation's goals and objectives
• Helpful software to assist you in building your roadmap in terms of collaboration, budgeting, and the breakdown of milestones into smaller tasks

But, this is just the start of your business growth journey

By taking this module, you will have started the process of driving growth and expansion within your organisation. Although there may be a number of things to consider, the best way to get started is to simply begin writing your business growth plan. You will learn a lot during the process and will likely identify opportunities you can leverage sooner rather than later.

Why not capture your thoughts? Before you finish, take 5 minutes to write down your top 3 key takeaways from this course and make some personal pledges that will help you begin your business growth journey.

Additional resources

Now that you have a better understanding of your capacity and capability for growth, you can begin to focus in on some of the key growth areas like your marketing strategy and your customer relationship management:

Related learning links

Creating your marketing strategy

Getting started with customer relationship management tools

Exit lesson and mark as complete

Lloyds Bank Academy is committed to providing information in a way that is accessible and useful for our users. This information, however, is not in any way intended to amount to authority or advice on which reliance should be placed. You should seek professional advice as appropriate and required. Any sites, products or services named in this module are just examples of what's available. Lloyds Bank does not endorse the services they provide. The information in this module was last updated on 13th March 2023.

Frequently asked questions

Changes to the Lloyd’s Oversight Framework

1. How should Boards make their assessment against the Principles?

2. what documentary evidence is required for the principles board attestation, 3. what is the impact of the oversight framework on business plan reviews, 4. what are the requirements to be rated outperforming, 5. are ratings provided at a syndicate level or managing agent level, 6. does materiality apply in respect of how material a syndicate is to the market or how material a dimension is to a syndicate, 7. do syndicates know what their materiality/expected maturity is, 8. how often is materiality refreshed, 9. if expected maturity increases, how long do syndicates have to demonstrate they are meeting this higher level of maturity, 10. are any dimensions weighted more than others, 11. is there any additional information below the maturity matrices, 12. are the maturity matrices prescriptive, 13. how often are a syndicate’s ratings assessed, 14. are managing agents expected to provide additional documentation or information to allow oversight teams to rate a syndicate, 15. what impact does the oversight framework have on lic (lloyd’s insurance company (europe)), 16. are syndicate categories publicised, 17. why do some dimensions have less than four maturity levels, 18. what should a managing agent do if it does not agree with the materiality / expected maturity, 19. how are new entrants assessed against the principles.

New entrants to Lloyd’s (with the exception of Syndicates in a box) will be subject to the Making It Happen process and as part of this there is an assessment across all of the Principles. There may be some Principles where the expected maturity is assessed as Not Applicable until the syndicate builds out its operations and its risk profile develops in line with this. New syndicates have a separate syndicate categorisation of New for the first three years, after which they would be categorised in line with the standard approach.

Syndicates in a box do not go through the Making It Happen process but will be informed of the expected maturity across most Principles shortly after they commence underwriting.

Useful information

Download the principles of doing business at lloyd’s pdf.

Lloyd’s released the 2024 business plan & capital approval for syndicates

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Lloyd’s of London has released a market bulletin detailing the 2024 business plan and capital approval process and timeline for syndicates, stating that it intends to identify underwriting and exposure challenges earlier in the syndicate business planning process.

Lloyd’s has said that syndicates whose performance is classed as moderate, underperforming, unacceptable or new will be requested to “provide additional data” as part of the 2024 business plan and capital approval process.

Lloyd’s adopts a principle based oversight model that it says enables it to ensure a fair but differentiated approach to both the capital and planning process for the 2024 year of account. Peter Montanaro, Market Oversight Director Lloyd’s

Lloyd’s is the world’s leading insurance and reinsurance marketplace. The level of flexibility that Lloyd’s is able to afford syndicates depends entirely on a syndicate’s categorisation.

Performance remains Lloyd’s number one priority, highlighting the importance of syndicates providing evidence that they have considered and factored in the risks linked to macro thematic challenges in their plans.

The market will seek to enhance the attractiveness of the Lloyd’s platform by capitalising on the opportunities that a principles-based framework allows for differentiation.

Lloyd’s syndicates come under three main categories:

• Outperforming syndicates;
• Good and moderate syndicates;
• Underperforming and Unacceptable syndicates.

For the first group, which are the strongest performers at Lloyd’s, the approach will be to understand what they intend to do, check that all material strategic or thematic issues have been resolved and evidenced through SDB engagement, and trust them to have planned appropriately.

For the syndicates who are not outperforming, Lloyd’s notes that its principle-based approach means we will focus our review on the area(s)that is driving the overall categorisation rating and the potential impact of such on underwriting and capital.

Syndicates who fall under the good category, will see their review of plans focus on only material issues as part of a portfolio based approach, while moderate syndicates’ plans will be reviewed in more detail.

For more than three centuries, the Lloyd’s market has been sharing risk to protect people and businesses, inspiring them to create a braver world. John Neal, CEO, Lloyd’s

Through the collective intelligence and risk-sharing expertise of the market’s underwriters and brokers, Lloyd’s helps to create a braver world.  

The Lloyd’s market provides the leadership and insight to anticipate and understand risk, and the knowledge to develop relevant, new and innovative forms of insurance for customers globally. 

And it promises a trusted, enduring partnership built on the confidence that Lloyd’s protects what matters most: helping people, businesses and communities to recover in times of need.

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Wall Street closes up, another weekly gain ahead of inflation data

U.S. stocks eked out modest gains on Friday and all three indexes posted another weekly advance as investors parsed comments from Federal Reserve officials and looked ahead to crucial inflation data next week.

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Commercial Banking Online

Accounting software

• Invoice Finance Online

Lloyds Online Trade Services (LOTS)

• Cardnet reporting tools

Find out more

• Other ways to bank
• How to log on to Online for Business
• Manage access to Online for Business

Accounts and savings

Everyday banking and payments

Business accounts

• Apply for a Business Account
• Switch to Lloyds Bank
• Treasurer’s account
• Client account
• School account
• Credit Union account
• Foreign Currency Account
• Instant Access Account
• Fixed Term Deposit
• Notice Accounts
• International payments
• Bulk payments
• Bacs payments
• Faster payments
• Embedded Payments
• CHAPS Payments
• Business Finance Assistant

View all products and services

Business account holders

• Manage your account
• Product terms and conditions

Savings Strategy Tool

Loans, cards and finance

Business loans

• Small business loans
• Commercial Mortgages
• Government-backed loans
• Credit Card
• Charge Card
• Card solutions (£3m+ turnover)

Asset Finance

• Business Hire Purchase
• Business Car Finance

Invoice Finance

• Selective Invoice Finance
• Invoice Factoring
• Invoice Discounting

International trade lending

View all borrowing options

• How to get a business loan
• Lending support and standards
• Lending appeals

Invoice Finance customers

• Existing customer login
• Debtor protection
• Asset Based Lending

Take payments

Card readers and online

Take payments with Cardnet®

Card readers

• Mobile card readers
• Portable card machines
• Countertop card machines
• Clover card machines

Online payments

• Hosted payments page
• Integrated payment page
• Pay by link

Over-the-phone payments

Omnichannel payments

Additional services

• Merchant Cash Advance
• Digital ordering solutions
• PCI DSS compliance
• Dynamic Currency Conversion

Existing customers

Cardnet existing customers

• Log on to your reporting tool
• Cardnet guides & resources
• Cardnet help & support

Accept card payments with our wide range of face-to-face solutions.

• International trade

Business at home and abroad

International & domestic trade

• Bonds & Guarantees
• Documentary Collections
• Letters of Credit
• Trade Finance
• Receivables Purchase

International cash management

• International Payments
• Foreign Exchange
• Currency Accounts

Existing trade customers

• International Trade Portal
• International rates and charges
• Login to LOTS
• Open Account Platform
• Trade Tracker

Find the right cover

Business Insurance

Public Liability Insurance

• Landlord Insurance
• Professional Indemnity Insurance
• Shop Insurance
• Office Insurance
• Cyber Insurance
• Café Insurance
• Salon Insurance
• Surgery Insurance
• Working from Home Insurance
• Fleet Insurance
• Pubs and Restaurants Insurance
• Business Insurance guides
• Retrieve an insurance quote

Help protect your business from legal fees and compensation costs if a customer, client or other third party makes a claim against you.

Business guidance

Start-up, manage and grow

Start your business

• Financing a startup
• How to write your business plan
• Ways to improve cash flow
• Name and set up your business
• Steps to starting a business

Manage your business

• Employment law
• Mental health in the workplace
• Disability in the workplace
• Payroll systems
• Business continuity planning

Grow your business

• International Commercial Terms
• Making international payments
• Finding the right property
• Building customer relationships
• Business sectors
• Agriculture
• Charities & not-for-profits
• Manufacturing
• Real Estate & Housing
• Legal Services

Useful resources

Insights and resources

• Sustainability
• Supporting Black-owned business
• Women-owned businesses​
• Managing business costs
• Latest insights
• Business guides
• Recent case studies

Good things are happening in British business

Find out how some of our customers have evolved their businesses in innovative ways.

Corporate solutions

For corporates & institutions

View all corporate solutions

• Card solutions
• Working capital
• Liquidity and accounts
• Risk management

Corporate sectors

• Consumer & Technology
• Infrastructure, Energy & Industrials
• Real Estate and Housing
• Higher Education
• Services & Public sector
• Sponsors, Debt & Structured Finance
• Sustainability & ESG Financing
• Financial Services

Online services

• Online Trade Services

Insights for corporates and institutions

Find the latest insights, reports, expert commentary and client case studies.

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Internet Banking

Keep me secure

• Banking online

Banking Online

Our range of online banking services lets you take control of your business finances wherever you are.

Our Internet Banking service is ideal for your everyday business banking needs. It’s safe, convenient, and easy to use.

What you can do

• Manage your business accounts in one place
• Make instant transfers and payments, as well as bulk and international payments
• View any savings, loans and credit and charge card accounts
• Set online access for other users and let us know who can make and approve payments
• Bank on the go with our mobile app

More about Online for Business

For businesses with a relationship manager, our pay-monthly internet banking service offers even more payment and admin features.

• Manage up to 2,000 business accounts in one place
• Access any of your foreign currency accounts
• Tailored service and design to suit your business needs
• Set online access for other users – let us know who can make and approve payments
• Import and export your financial data

More about Commercial Banking Online

Register by calling your relationship manager.

Need more help deciding which online service is right for your business? expandable section

See a summary of some of the key differences between Online for Business and Commercial Banking Online.

Administration

Accounts and balances.

Take a closer look at the difference between Online for Business and Commercial Banking Online.

Online banking services guide (PDF, 142KB )

Other Online Services

Our accounting software gives you control of your finances, so you can focus on what matters.

Securely access and manage your Invoice Finance facility. This easy-to-use portal offers all the features you need to help you manage your facility.

Arena combines Foreign Exchange and Money Market execution tools with insight, analysis and reporting, making it easy for you to address both your immediate and strategic objectives.

Lloyds Online Trade Services (LOTS) is a simple and streamlined way for you to manage your trade needs online.  

Cardnet® reporting

Our reporting tools allow you to access a detailed overview of your payments and transactions, helping you spot trends and identify customer behaviour.  

Merchant Portal Business Track & ClientLine RAM

Important legal information

Lloyds Bank plc. Registered office: 25 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7HN. Registered in England and Wales No. 2065. Lloyds Bank plc is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority under registration number 119278. Telephone: 020 7626 150

Eligible deposits with us are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). We are covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). Please note that due to FSCS and FOS eligibility criteria not all business customers will be covered.

Calls may be monitored or recorded in case we need to check we have carried out your instructions correctly and to help improve our quality of service.