PEARL RIVER, NY – 15 September 2004 – At a September 8 ceremony in London, ACORD was presented with The Review Worldwide Reinsurance Industry Initiative of the Year Award for 2004. ACORD President and CEO, Gregory A. Maciag, accepted the award on behalf of ACORD’s more than 480 members worldwide.
One judge on the panel remarked that “ACORD is setting the global standard. Eventually, the whole industry will move to ACORD standards if you want straight-through processing from start to finish.”
Among the reasons cited in the awards program for this honor was the rapidly increasing implementation rate of ACORD data standards. Reinsurance industry leaders including Swiss Re, Scor, Converium, XL Re, ERC, RGA Re, Aon, Benfield, Guy Carpenter, Marsh, AIG, and Axa Cessions have implemented ACORD data standards. In addition, there was a significant increase over the past year in implementations and certifications by solution providers thereby increasing choice, flexibility and innovation in the industry. ACORD’s catastrophic exposure standards were also implemented by the top three cat modelers this year – AIR, EQE, and RMS.
In 2003, ACORD data standards received endorsement by the London Market Association (LMA) and the London Market Principles (LMP). In fact, the LMA requested that the standards be used for 2004 renewals.
“It is very important we push for global standards,” said another of this year’s judges.
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.