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Source: Daily Mail, LondonSept.mini storage 27--THE boss of Lloyd's of London last night urged the Bank of England to hike interest rates after profits fell sharply.Despite benefiting from a lack of natural catastrophe claims in the first half of the year, the insurance market revealed that profits dropped almost 10pc to pounds sterling 1.38bn.The slump was driven by a 60pc fall in income from investments to just pounds sterling 247m.Lloyd's invests insurance premiums in financial markets to boost its returns. More than 90pc of its portfolio has been ploughed into assets such as government and corporate bonds. Returns on these investments have suffered with interest rates kept at record lows.Chief executive Richard Ward said: 'I understood the logic behind what the Bank has been doing. But there needs to be an increase in interest rates to counter high inflation.'The call is particularly eye-catching because the Lloyd's insurance market was for a long time seen as one of the three pillars of the City alongside the Bank of England and the London St迷你倉ck Exchange.But it could be a long wait until interest rates rise from the current level of 0.5pc. Under Bank governor Mark Carney's new policy of 'forward guidance', interest rates will only be increased if unemployment falls below 7pc. The Bank does not expect this until late 2016 although others believe it could be as soon as the end of next year.Lloyd's said catastrophes including the flooding in Australia and the tornado in Oklahoma were unlikely to have a significant impact on its finances. But it warned that the second half of the year is always the more costly. The US is midway through the Atlantic windstorm season, the most costly point in the Lloyd's calendar.Large man-made losses in the first half include Rio Tinto's collapsed mine in Utah and the Intelsat satellite failure. Ward said the claims bill for the Costa Concordia cruise liner disaster is also spiralling.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 Daily Mail (London, ) Visit the Daily Mail (London, ) at .dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html Distributed by MCT Information Services文件倉