Lloyd's has released a new three-year plan–2008 to 2010–that underscores the use of underwriting discipline in a changing market.
Lloyd's Chief Executive Officer Richard Ward commented that the "market and corporation have achieved a number of key objectives, including upgrades from two ratings agencies, the development of a solid performance management framework and strong financial assets."
He added that the market remains in a "strong position to deal with any issues that it faces and capitalize on opportunities."
Mr. Ward said his priority as CEO remains "to work with the market to deliver our plan and increase the pace of change. There is clear evidence that the market, with the support of the corporation, is better prepared than ever to do this."
He warned, however, that the market is "fiercely competitive" and that as market conditions change, "significant challenges" lie ahead.
The three-year plan recognizes that "the corporation must work with businesses in the market to help maintain underwriting discipline to ensure that the market is well placed to shield itself from the worst effects of the down cycle and to take advantage of improving conditions when the cycle turns," Mr. Ward said.
According to Lloyd's Three-Year Plan, available on its Web site (www.Lloyds.com), the insurance industry is likely to experience falling rates and worsening terms and conditions, therefore a "major priority is to work with managing agents to maintain prudent underwriting discipline."
Lloyd's said that "along with the emphasis on managing the cycle, work needs to continue on improving Lloyd's longer-term competitive position…so that the market will be able to take full advantage of market conditions when the cycle turns."
Lloyd's also said that a pilot project using syndicate transactional data is in the works as a price monitoring tool. The goal is to widen the scope of the tool, to incorporate the majority of syndicates' data by fourth-quarter 2008. Further benchmarking capability will be developed as part of a suite of business information tools to be rolled out to agents in 2009.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.