Lloyd's has issued its initial guidance for achieving contract certainty to London underwriters and brokers.

Lloyd's chief executive Nick Prettejohn has written to Lloyd's companies informing them of the “practical guidance” which the Market Reform Group has made available.

As reported by Insurance Times last week, the guidance includes a code of practice and a contract certainty checklist.

The letter, which is addressed to company chief executives, states: “The responsibility for contract certainty (including achievement of market standards and targets) lies with each individual firm, which is where the bulk of implementation activity must take place.”

Prettejohn has urged company boards to adopt the code of practice. He said: “Only then will they commit themselves to the key changes they need to make to meet the FSA's deadline.

“We are nearly halfway to the deadline. Every firm should be taking the issue very seriously.”