Lloyd’s Studying Feasibility of Yearly Accounts

Nick Prettejohn, Lloyd’s Chief Executive, speaking at the annual conference of the Association of Lloyd’s Members, revealed that they are studying the feasibility of producing one-year accounts along with the traditional three year accounting period.

The current practice, which goes back almost to the founding of Lloyd’s, leaves syndicate books open to register unreported losses covering risks written in the year of account. It is therefore extremely difficult to have current profit and loss estimates, and a yearly accounting would greatly improve the situation.

“We have set ourselves a target of September to figure out whether or not we can go ahead,” Prettejohn told Reuters News Agency. “We may decide it is not practical or that it is practical but too expensive. It’s very complicated.”