Lloyd's insurers could face extra charges in 2007 to cover business process reform initiatives.

The Lloyd's Market Association (LMA) said it would like to see a formal funding structure to raise capital from the market to invest in reform programmes.

Although no definitive plans have been agreed, funding could be raised through a levy on the market. Further capital may come from funds earmarked by Lloyd's for change.

Simon Sperryn, chief executive of the LMA, told Insurance Times: "Increasingly we understand the need to get funding together that is accountable to practitioners in the market."

Although Sperryn said the LMA was happy to commission and fund initiatives such as the electronic claims file project, which was launched last month, he insisted it would not work every time.

"It is relatively cheap having bright ideas and debate, and agreeing on priorities and doing deals, but it is not necessarily easy to get managers or finance in place," he said, adding: "Now we need that."

A funding framework to make reform work was welcomed with some reservation.

One senior industry source said moving some funding to associations would allow smaller projects to get done. But he warned that the "age old issue" of control would still need to be addressed.

"We would have to find a way to make sure any initiatives are tightly run and managed by experienced project managers, with clear benefits, objectives, milestones and delivery dates," the source added.

"As long as it worked, generally any progress on reform would be welcomed [by the market], but I suspect the worries around Kinnect have not gone away."