They are two of the City of London’s oldest and most arcane financial institutions and they may find that coronavirus has changed their working practices for ever.
Lloyd’s of London is the world’s oldest insurance market, established more than 330 years ago in a City coffee house. It still carries out a large part of its activities using paper contracts processed in its vast underwriting room, stretching over four floors in its flamboyant building, designed by the architect Lord Rogers of Riverside, on Lime Street in the City of London.
The London Metal Exchange is the operator of the only open outcry market left in Europe and dates back 143 years. Since March, this trading venue, known as the Ring, has been shut. It is