Lloyd’s is making a $2.26 billion cash call on its institutional investors as well as its private investors –  the names – to meet liabilities flowing from the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US.

The institutions will have to provide $1.5 billion of the total, with the rest coming from the market’s remaining 2,850 names. Lloyd’s has estimated its exposure to the US claims is $3.84 billion – nearly 12% of the market’s $32.84 billion capacity.

While the institutions are understood to be supportive of the cash call, the names are understood to be less than impressed. Tempting them to stay in the market is the realisation that premium rises next year – up to 300% – will provide lucrative returns.

The names aren’t as exposed as their predecessors were in the late 1980s–early 1990s when US asbestos claims bankrupted many of them. Most names now operate with limited liability, and institutional investors have gradually replaced them.