After weeks of speculation and perhaps the worst kept secret in insurance the cat is finally out of the bag. On Tuesday of this week we announced that IBM had been chosen to develop the pilot for the Lloyd’s Exchange.

The response to this news has been overwhelmingly positive and hopefully the ‘son of Kinnect’ labels are finally beginning to come loose.

After Kinnect, it was felt that a central solution would never be suitable again but there is a clear gap in the market around setting standards.

Faced with the difficult decision of which supplier to select and how to operate (and more importantly not wanting to pick the wrong one), a simple ring that everyone can use to communicate was deemed the best solution.

Think of it just as an electronic operating standard, it doesn’t impose any way of working on anyone, it just moves the information about.

And thus the Lloyd’s Exchange was born.

We are now working with IBM to develop a pilot with businesses around the market. We also have the support from the LMA, IUA and LIIBA. Using ACORD standard messages we could have the first messaging system for dealing with placing risks.

The Exchange is another step towards making Lloyd’s a far easier and effective place to do business.

Watch this space!

Related links

• IBM picked for market pilot,  15-01-2009, Insurance Times
• IBM wins bid for Lloyd’s Exchange pilot, 13 January 2009, Insurance Age

Tags: Lloyd's Exchange

This entry was posted by Carl Phillips on Thursday, January 15th, 2009 at 11:45 am and is filed under Market Operations.