Lloyd’s of London profits halve on catastrophes

Lloyd's of London, the world's biggest insurance market, has reported a 50 per cent fall in profits for the first half of 2010 as a result of costs from the BP oil spill and Chilean earthquake.

Pre-tax profits came in at £628m compared with £1.32bn a year earlier.

Lord Levene, the Lloyd's chairman, described the period as the "costliest on record", as the market paid out a total of £5.9bn in claims during the six months - £365m more than a year ago.

"We have seen a higher number of catastrophes this year than we have seen in the past 20 years," Lloyd's chief executive Richard Ward told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

He estimated the net loss to Lloyd's caused by the Chilean earthquake at $1.4bn (£886m), while the Gulf oil spill cost the market between $300m and $600m.

Read a full report at BBC News

 ·