One appointment was conspicuously absent from Lloyd's new franchise board - the franchise performance director.

This has sparked speculation that Lloyd's is having difficulty recruiting for the position.

Lloyd's announced the 10 of 11 members of the board on Monday.

The board, which will start work in January, comprises Lloyd's chairman Lord Levene, chief executive Nick Prettejohn and director of finance and operations Andrew Moss, as well as seven non-executive members.

The three market non-executive members are Stephen Catlin, Edward Creasy and Andrew Kendrick. The four outsiders are Judith Hanratty, Roy Brown, Stephen Hodge and Jim Stretton.

Lloyd's chairman Lord Levene said: "The franchise board is one of the lynchpins of the Lloyd's reforms and its formation shows that change is truly underway."

Those in the market have had varying reactions.

Liberty Syndicates managing director Sean Dalton said of the appointments: "Catlin and Creasy are major architects of the whole franchise which is positive, as is the fact they are within the market. So they will be aware of any concerns people have about the franchise."

Another insurer said the franchise board comprised a strong-looking group, but that it could be capable of "great good or great evil".

A Lloyd's broker said the concern was whether the board would be yet another level of bureaucracy stifling innovative spirits.

He thought Levene had been "left holding the baby" as Riley had left before making the difficult appointment of the franchise director, he added.

Roger Foord of Roger Foord Associates said: "It all seems to make sense, but it would be good to have more clarity about what exactly they will be doing from January."