Lloyd's will report its results using the General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) for the first time, according to market sources.
In January, the Chairman's Strategy Group (CSG) along with consultants Bain & Co recommended the market uses an annual reporting system. This would mean Lloyd's would announce its projections for the 2001 year of account. Standard & Poor's director of financial services ratings Stephen Searby said: "If it is used, it will make the market more transparent. More information has got to be better."
Market analysts said Lloyd's syndicates are facing losses of up to £1.9bn for the 1999 year of account.
The figure is £300m worse than the figure predicted by Lloyd's last November.
Lloyd's syndicates were due to announce their syndicate quarterly returns yesterday, estimating profits and losses on their three open years.
Analysts expected the market to paint a gloomy picture for 2000 and announce higher losses than expected for 1999.
The last time Lloyd's made a profit was in 1996, when it made £359m after expenses.
Moody's Investors Service European insurance managing director Mark Hewlett said: "One should expect to see a further deterioration which is reflective of the whole industry at the moment.
"The statement `bad years get worse and good years tend to get better' is very true.
"Although some improvement was seen during 2000, we do not expect it will be significantly better," said Wharrier. "2001, which would have shown improvement, has been significantly impacted by the World Trade Centre."
Fitch Ratings director of insurance David Wharrier predicted losses of between £1.5bn to £1.9bn for 1999. Most analysts expect losses to be at the higher end of this estimate.
"The last five years have been difficult," he said. "There have been a huge number of catastrophes at low rates."
Hewlett said syndicates would now begin to close down.
"There will be further casualties driven by deteriorating results and the losses that some syndicates have sustained," he said.
l Jago Managing Agency's Syndicate 205 ceased underwriting and went into run-off on 1 April.
Managing director Ray Walker blamed increased capacity in Lloyd's and Bermuda for its demise. Jago had anticipated rate increases of 30% on average for property risks but Walker said "we were probably getting nowhere near that".
Its 1999 year of account will be left open and is anticipating a 32.5% loss.
