Kinnect board faces D-day at Lloyd's

The board of Kinnect will face the Lloyd's franchise board on 15 December in what some have described as D-day for the beleaguered electronic platform.

Newly-appointed chairman Michael Dawson and chief executive Steven Haasz are expected to outline their proposals for the future of Kinnect to the franchise board in a bid to get the green light on re-drafted staffing, IT and funding plans.

Dawson took the helm from Toby Davies who retired as chief executive along with executive chairman Iain Saville last month.

The Lloyd's board will also consider whether to rubber stamp plans to outsource the multi-million pound contract for re-coding the existing platform to Indian technology firm Tata.

An industry source said: "Tata may be the cheapest, but Kinnect has to get it right this time. A lot of people feel that placing responsibility in the hands of an offshore outfit is dangerous."

A spokeswoman for Lloyd's confirmed that no contracts had yet been signed with Tata.

She added: "It is true that Michael Dawson will be presenting his vision for the future of Kinnect by the end of the year. We will not discuss the exact nature of the franchise board meeting at this stage."