Lloyd’s syndicates to continue with UK GAAP

Lloyd’s has ruled out considering the adoption of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) for syndicate annual reports until the final Phase II insurance standard takes effect, which under the current timetable will not be before 2012. A market consultation revealed that respondents are divided between whether the market should adopt IFRS at all, with 46% in favour of replacing UK GAAP with IFRS against 50% that want to continue using UK GAAP. Only 12% of respondents said IFRS should be adopted as soon as possible if it is decided to replace UK GAAP, with 49% of participants preferring to wait until Phase II is finalised. Lloyd’s said it agreed with the consensus that adopting IFRS now would be “premature”.