19 September 2006 – The London insurance market has reached a significant milestone in its on-going work to reform processes with the launch of a new electronic claims system.
In what marks a good step towards eradicating paper in the market, an �electronic filing cabinet� has been launched for handling Electronic Claims Files (ECF). It is now being made available to all Lloyd�s managing agents and brokers, making the whole claims process faster and more efficient.
The ECF initiative allows claims to be processed without the need for brokers to carry volumes of files between underwriters and Xchanging, the company that provides adjusting and processing services to the Lloyd�s market.
Andy Brookes, Head of the Market Reform Programme Office, said: �The ability to process claims electronically is a major milestone in reforming the London market. It marks the beginning of the end of the huge piles of paper you see brokers carrying each day.
�Sponsored by the Market Reform Group, the level of support from brokers and carriers alike demonstrates the whole market�s recognition that tangible time and efficiency savings can be achieved. We are now focused on ensuring a broad take-up by all market participants.�
During the past four months, 12 managing agents and five brokers have been testing the system, and it has now been rolled out to the whole of the Lloyd�s market. International Underwriting Association (IUA) firms have been using Claims Agreement and Settlement Systems for some time. But they are now piloting the ECF infrastructure and, once completed, the repository will be extended to all of their members as well.
Steven Haasz, Director of Business Process and Change Management at Lloyd’s, said: “Reforming and modernising the processes used by the Lloyd’s market remains a key priority. This ‘electronic filing cabinet’ will remove a significant amount of paper from the system and streamline the whole process. It is a significant step towards a truly modern market.”
The same technology will be used to enable the market to process premiums and policy documents electronically as part of the Accounting and Settlement (A&S) project. This began market testing earlier in the summer and will be rolled out to the market in due course.
The initiative has been led by the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) which has driven the negotiations and whose members have funded the �3 million project. Implementation has been sponsored by the Market Reform Group, with extensive collaboration between managing agents, brokers, Lloyd�s, and Xchanging.
