Archibald began her finance career in 1955 with her stepfather's firm, Moscow Narodny Bank, and became Lloyd's first accredited women insurance broker in 1973.
Archibald was born to Russian Jewish immigrants Emanuel Eshuah Kalmanowsky and his wife, Sophie (née Gissen), at the Welbeck Hospital in Marylebone, London on 25 May 1928.
[1] Her mother later married family friend Noah Barou, the head of London's Moscow Narodny Bank branch, and Liliana took on his surname.
Archibald returned to the United Kingdom in 1955 to join her stepfather's firm as a specialist in providing banks with credit insurance, claiming salaries for a career in academia were too low.
[4] Following the recommendation of the 1968 Cromer Report, Lloyd's of London lifted a restriction on women brokers, leading her Adam Brothers colleagues to encourage her to apply for a job there.
[1] Archibald's obituary in The Times noted much comment was made of her love of Porsche's at high speed, wearing a black leather jacket and smoking cigarillo.