Your 7 November opinion piece - "Is there anyone in charge at Lloyd's?" - contains substantial inaccuracies and is misinformed about the regulation of the Lloyd's Market.

Lloyd's has a statutory duty to supervise the regulation of the market under the Lloyd's Act, a duty that is constantly under review to continue to meet high standards.

The FSA under the Financial Services and Markets Act oversees that Lloyd's continues to meet these standards, while it also directly authorises a number of players in the Lloyd's Market such as underwriting agents.

Both Lloyd's and the FSA have earned high international reputations for the manner in which they discharge their regulatory and supervisory duties and it is nonsense to suggest there is a regulatory vacuum or chaos in the market.

Lloyd's and the FSA work very closely together to ensure that the market is regulated in a strong and efficient manner.

Your piece suggests that Lloyd's should have appointed its new franchise board and director in June 2002. Bearing in mind that Lloyd's was in the middle of a consultation period and had yet to seek its members' support for the reforms, such an appointment at this time would have been entirely inappropriate.

Equally the suggestion that a date has yet to be set for the next meeting of the Lloyd's Market Board is simply wrong. The board is due to meet on 26 November and 17 December. These dates were set a year ago.

The recent Tiner progress report on the future regulation of insurance sets out how the FSA intends, going ahead, to exercise its responsibilities for the regulation of the Lloyd's Market.

Again, in doing so, the FSA and Lloyd's will work closely together to avoid undue duplication.

David Peel
Director, communications
Lloyd's of London

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