Corporate capital is continuing to increase its dominance of Lloyd's, despite performing worse than those syndicates funded by a mixture of corporate and private capital, according to the market publication Chatset.
In the 1997 year of account, the corporate sector showed losses 2% greater than mixed funded syndicates and this looks set to continue in 1998 and 1999.
Forecast losses for 1998 are 11.7% for corporate, compared with 9.6% for mixed. In 1999, corporates are forecast to lose 14.9% and mixed capital 10.6%.
Chatset suggests that mixed syndicates do better due to the superior analytical skill of members' agents and their drive to support the best.
It says: “Corporates do not have the same advantage of an independent eye looking over their shoulder, and find, as a result, that they are left with the worst of the underwriting talent and therefore the worst syndicates.”
The past year saw further dropouts among corporate syndicates with Sterling 529 and 1093 losing an estimated £80.6m over the past four years.
The Standfast-owned syndicate 991 ceased trading at the end of the year with losses of £54.5m, and Crowe syndicates 53, 808 and 1121 also closed.
Charles Sturge, editor of the Lloyd's League Tables, predicted corporate may further increase its share of funding as Names are likely to leave when the market peaks following the lows of 1998 and 1999.
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