First day at work for Lloyd's Lord Levene

Lord Levene will begin his tenure as chairman of Lloyd's this week. He succeeds Sax Riley and will serve for a minimum term of three years.

Levene was named in June as the new chairman, but was only officially elected by the Council of Lloyd's on Tuesday.

Levene said: "I shall be working very closely with our chief executive Nick Prettejohn and the senior team as we drive forward the implementation of our reform programme and complete the transformation of Lloyd's.

"2003 will be a year of transition for Lloyd's with the introduction of the new franchise concept and changes to our accounting system," he added.

One of his first jobs will be to oversee the appointment of the franchise performance director and franchise board - a process that Lloyd's describes as "ongoing".

The CSG document stated the intention for the franchise system to run from 2003, so some in the market expected the new director and board to be in place by the end of this year.

But Lloyd's will not be pinned down on when they will be appointed, saying that a date had never been officially set.