Hanging in the balance

While Lloyd's has undoubtedly produced some vintage profits in recent years, will the recent reforms be enough to ensure the quality of future crops? Marcus Alcock looks at the market's prospects and whether it is likely to become bogged down by the difficulties that have plagued it in the past

Lloyd's annual results for 2003 showed a profit of £1.89bn, an increase of 127% on 2002's healthy profit of £834m. Combined ratio for 2003 was an impressive 90.7%, and capacity is at a record £14.9bn.

Significant structural changes have also been introduced under the direction of chief executive, Nick Prettejohn, most notably the establishment of the Franchise Board and the appointment of franchise performance director, Rolf Tolle, whose job it is to ensure a greater degree of stability going