WHITESPACE SOFTWARE LIMITED

Press Release - 15th October 2001

WHITESPACE CONFIDENT OF LLOYD'S AUCTION SUCCESS

Lloyd's have changed the capacity auctions this month to cope with the effects of September 11. Deadlines are tight and emotions are high but Whitespace, whose software handles 100% of the Members Agencies auction bids, are confident that Members Agencies will succeed in trading Names' capacity, starting on October 16 .

The first capacity auction went as planned on September 5. But the auction planned for 19 September had to be postponed - it was not possible at that time to take a measured view of trading prices for Lloyd's Syndicates. The new timetable allows for a full auction process to take place. Members Agencies will need to work efficiently because the gaps between auctions has been shrunk from 3 weeks to 5 days. £405M of capacity traded in the first auction can, for the first time, be traded again. There was £561M of unsatisfied bids, a large percentage of which have had to be cancelled to stop them rolling over into the next auction.

This is a time of year when emotions run high at Lloyd's. There is uncertainty about the price which Syndicate capacity will receive. The market's view of an underwriter's success is shown by the price at which his Syndicate's capacity changes hands. At 8:00am on October 16 the Agents will be competing to get their Names' bids at the front of the queue.

 Whitespace Software Limited provide the SYNOPSIS system which all Members' Agencies use to manage their participation in these Auctions. Whitespace's Auction manager, Janice Malins, says "Following the World Trade Centre attacks, the value of capacity on any given Syndicate was uncertain and this led to a delay in running the Auctions. Although the depth of the financial damage has yet to be fully realised, time was running out for the establishment of Capacity in the Account year 2002. These two final auctions are now being run very close together. We are confident that these auctions will run smoothly."

For more information contact:

Jonathan Ling

telephone: 020 7240 0208 - email: info@whitespace.co.uk

WHITESPACE SOFTWARE LIMITED