The market has already made progress in many areas of the reform program. The challenge now is to build on this momentum and deliver the real changes needed to reform the market. This will not only ensure that we meet the FSA contract certainty deadline, but will also enable market firms to realize the huge process and service benefits of a modern, efficient market.

There's a strong possibility that rates will harden in other areas as people move capital to the opportunities they see.

A profit like this in a year like last year is a superb result.

I wouldn't want anybody to think we are going to run our UK business at an 80 percent combined ratio. I would be delighted if it was 95 percent.

That would leave us some money to grow the group into what we see as a very attractive market in many segments for the next few years.

We are on the right path, but we are not yet consistently at the levels either expected by customers or required by the regulator. The MRG will continue to play a crucial role in supporting and driving the market to achieve this. I am under no illusion that the task ahead of us remains enormous but I take over the chair of the MRG with a passionate belief in the need for reform.