LONDON, UK, April 16 – The second meeting of the London Regional Input Group (LRIG) was held recently, here in London. Chaired by Chris Rawson, CIO of Lloyd’s, the LRIG identified several priorities for the London Market. Among the issues addressed were the investigation of the need for submission core requirements and the development of standards for reporting on binding authorities and location exposures.
LRIG is made up of senior representatives from the Broker, International Underwriting Association (IUA) and Lloyd’s market communities. It was established last year to bring together regional views and set priorities for the London Market Reinsurance and Large Commercial Insurance membership of ACORD.
At its recent meeting, the LRIG set its sights on investigating the business processing cycle to identify where there may be benefit in exchanging a small subset of electronic risk data between business partners. A new ACORD Submission core requirements Working Group has been created to address this priority.
Additional focus was given to creating standards for reporting on Binding Authorities and Location Exposures. Two new working groups have been set up to develop these standards. Their objective is to get support from all parties involved in the information chain – from the source of the data (i.e., Coverholders and Risk Managers) through to the reinsurers.
Other goals the LRIG addressed include:
- Movement of unstructured documentation between repositories.
- E-closing for back office London market processes.
- Aviation.
- Energy.
- Claims core requirements.
The LRIG has a pivotal role in supporting the international ACORD process. It is acknowledged that while there are many regional issues, the Reinsurance and large Commercial business can be and is placed in multiple international markets. The standard must remain international, although they can recognise valid regional variations in business practice.
The LRIG represents the interests of all London Market organisations, including non-global participants as well as providing a communication forum for ACORD working groups into London, supporting ACORD events and ensuring members are advised on the aims of those events.
Responsibilities of the LRIG are to maintain a drive and impetus to achieving London implementation of standards as well as to establish and communicate London Market priorities, concerns and issues to the ACORD Reinsurance & Large Commercial (RLC) Steering Committee.
“The LRIG provides an excellent conduit for ACORD to disseminate information on standards activities to the London Market, and offers market practioners a great opportunity to further advance the adoption of internationally compliant standards,” explained Rawson. He added that it was as important that the LRIG “work with the London Market to provide input to ACORD global priorities and standards development activities as well as participate in the ACORD Working Groups, where relevant.”
Many of the new working groups, mentioned above, are already in place and aim to complete their work by mid-May (in time to submit the standards work for ratification by the full ACORD membership in June). Details of all working groups, including how to become involved in any of these, can be found on the ACORD website (www.acord.org).
About ACORD: Based in New York, ACORD (Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development) is a global, nonprofit insurance association whose mission is to facilitate the development and use of standards for the insurance, reinsurance and related financial services industries. With offices in London as well, ACORD accomplishes its mission by remaining an objective, independent advocate for sharing information among diverse platforms. ACORD Standards and services improve efficiency and expand market reach. Affiliated with ACORD are hundreds of insurance and reinsurance companies and thousands of agents and brokers, related financial services organizations, software providers, and industry organizations worldwide.
