Lloyd's managing agent Abacus is set to launch a professional indemnity (PI) syndicate.
The Lloyd's franchise board has given conditional approval for Syndicate 2526, which will commence underwriting on 1 January 2004.
The active underwriter will be Andy Doré, formerly head PI underwriter with PRI.
The syndicate will have a capacity of £40m, 90% of which will be focused on SME risks in the UK.
Abacus chief operating officer Ian Bremner said: "The prime objective is to create a consistently profitable PI syndicate to take advantage of the current opportunities within the market without any tail from the past. There is currently a shortage of quality underwriting capacity in the market".
Meanwhile, Abacus Syndicate 2525 plans to increase its capacity from £42m to £75m in 2004.
Most of the extra capacity will be used for public liability, products liability and UK employers' liability.
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