LLOYD's of London may increase a settlement package it has offered to loss-making and litigating Names - the investors in the market - according to industry sources.

Lloyd's is close to completing a deal with brokers which would add roughly an extra £100 million to a £2.8 billion compensation package offered to Names bearing over £8 billion pounds of losses announced over the last five years. market sources said.

The market's 34,000 Names, including a number of well-placed Irish individuals, would in June receive their final bills for reinsurance into a giant new company, Equitas, which is the central plank of Lloyd's recovery plan.

With over £13 billion of assets, Equitas would shoulder all liabilities for business underwritten up to 1992, which included the major loss-making years and the potentially huge payouts from asbestos and pollution-related claims in the US.

While brokers have expressed reservations about creating a precedent for subsidising the market's previous losses, they were prepared to invest in future business.

Under the terms of the agreement, brokers would, over the next five years, contribute sums in proportion to the premium volume each brings to the market.

This would enable Lloyd's to juggle funds and add the £100 million to the settlement offer Names must vote on in July at Lloyd's annual general meeting. Names would be expected to drop law suits if the settlement was accepted.