Fees and charges

For the 2021 year of account, Alpha charges a fee of £5,400 plus 0.5% of the member’s overall premium limit (OPL) advised by Alpha, subject to a maximum fee of £38,500 for members’ underwriting up to £10m.

For members writing in excess of £10m, a fee of £5,400 plus 0.5% of a member’s OPL advised by Alpha will apply with no maximum, but this fee may be negotiable.

No profit commission is charged by Alpha to any member.

For members also underwriting through another members’ agent, 0.3% of the OPL allocated by the other agent will be charged as a co-ordinating fee.

Members employed in the Lloyd’s market will be offered a discount of 10% of their annual fee.

A group of members (either through common ownership, family or other groups) may be able to receive a discount on the agency fee if they appoint a single spokesperson for the group.

A winding-up fee equivalent to the highest annual fee payable to Alpha in respect of the last three years of account is payable following death or resignation of a member.

A syndicate transaction fee of up to 3% of proceeds may be charged per transaction (which includes a syndicate cash or share offer).

A fee of £5,500 is charged for setting up a new LLP or NameCo. This charge will cover the Fidentia application and set-up fees and any initial financial and tax advice given by Duncan & Toplis. This fee will not cover Lloyd’s application fees which will be collected by Lloyd’s separately and are detailed below.

Administrative charges are also levied for any subsequent changes to the structure of a vehicle.

For sellers of limited liability vehicles, a fee equivalent to the highest annual fee payable to Alpha in respect of the last three years of account will be charged to cover dealing with enquiries from solicitors and the administrative work connected with the sale.

These charges have not been changed for the 2022 year of account but will continue to be reviewed.

For 2021 Fidentia currently charges an annual fee of £3,000 plus VAT for the administration of NameCos and LLPs.

A separate re-charge is made by Fidentia for obtaining the data from Lloyd’s necessary for the preparation of the accounts of LLVs in accordance with Schedule 3 of the Large and Medium-sized Companies and Group (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Fidentia obtains this information from Lloyd’s at a discounted fee. The fee for a member underwriting less than £2m is currently approximately £150 including VAT and there is a sliding scale for members writing more than £2m up to a maximum fee of £625 including VAT.

Where an LLV has a straightforward HoldCo c£5k is charged per annum for administering, including VAT and audit costs.

Where a NameCo holds an investment portfolio there is an extra charge of £250 plus VAT per annum for accounting.

Fidentia will charge a fee of £750 plus VAT for administrative work carried out by them during any sale process.

These charges have not been changed for the 2022 year of account but will continue to be reviewed.

The administrative unit of The Corporation of Lloyd’s that handles members’ affairs is called Member Services (MS). MS charges application fees for a new LLV depending on the structure and complexity of the vehicle being set-up. A simple structure will incur a charge of £5,250, a complex structure a charge of £10,500 and an LLV with non-related parties will incur a charge of £52,000. There are additional charges if a third-party provides FAL.

MS also charges annual fees to both NameCos and LLPs. These fees cover various regulatory, custodial and tax preparation charges. For a simple LLV, the charges normally amount to around £5,000 per annum to cover custodianship of FAL assets and tax preparation. There are additional charges for each underlying participant for LLPs (£500 for each additional member), third-party FAL providers (£100 per TPFP) and US resident LLV participants (£750). Only the tax charges are subject to VAT.

Lloyd’s charges for the application for approval to make any subsequent changes to the members or participants of an LLP, to the controllers or directors of the NameCo or to third party FAL providers. These fees depend on the structure of the applicant as well as the type of application and range from £1,050 for a change of control application for a simple structure to £5,250 for a complex structure and from £2,600 for a new third-party FAL provider application with a simple structure to £10,500 for a complex structure.

Members also pay an annual Lloyd’s member subscription and a contribution to the Central Fund. These are deducted at source when a syndicate’s underwriting result is calculated. For 2021 these will be charged at 0.36% and 0.35% of gross written premium respectively. Both fees are reviewed annually.

All costs are treated as a business expense and are therefore tax deductible (including fees for the management of FAL).