PEARL RIVER, NY – 14 August 2009 – A recent vote by ACORD (www.acord.org) members in Australia officially adopted the ACORD Messaging Library (AML) as the data standard for use within the Australian insurance market.
This was a major advance in standardising data within the industry there and makes Australia one of the first markets to adopt and implement AML.
“Insurance is often accused of lagging the banking industry around the efficiency of information flow. This is an important milestone to help close that gap,” asserted Steve Coles, CIO, Allianz and chair of the ACORD Australian Advisory Committee.
Major activity to implement ACORD standards in Australia began in 2008 with the creation of that advisory committee. This immediately led to the formation of two working groups focused on the specific needs of their market. One focused on development of a framework, architecture and message design philosophy to meet the needs of the Australian Business Market while the other took on business issues, primarily placement and forms.
The first standardised AML message being implemented will be for Professional Indemnity (PI) content that includes Quote, Bind and Close transactions for New Business, Renewal, Endorsement, and Cancellation processing.
“Universal data exchange, between consumer, intermediary and product manufacturer, has been achieved with the release of the ACORD PI Australian standard,” said Robert Kelly, executive chairman, Steadfast Group Limited. “When this product is fully rolled out, it will deliver efficiency, greater choice, and a competitive environment. Australia is now part of a worldwide standard.”
“The rapid advance of ACORD standards in this market is testimony to the dedication and commitment of its leaders within the industry and their shared goal of improving data communication and the processing efficiency of the independent broker” said John Kellington, Senior Vice President of ACORD. “We look forward to further development and implementation efforts and thank all of those who have led this charge towards standardisation.” .
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. www.acord.org.
