Part of our role at Market Operations is to check the perceived benefits at the outset of a project against the actual performance/benefits that are realised from a Lloyd’s perspective.

The delivery of the ECF and A&S systems is one of the market initiatives we’ve been supporting: the aim is to enhance systems and remove any remaining obstacles to e-processing all transactions.

When the projects began, we anticipated the benefits of ECF and A&S systems would be:

• 20% reduction in claims settlement time
• Faster settlement of premium transactions
• Reduced administration costs for brokers
• Simultaneous access to the claims file for all parties
• Ability to present claims outside of normal UK office hours
• Ability to present claims from any global location

We’ve recently begun work that will try to identify whether these benefits are being realised. Early indications are that the market is experiencing genuine benefits in terms of cycle time reduction and a faster, more efficient end–to-end process.

These efficiencies have in turn led to tangible financial benefits in areas ranging from increased opportunity from investment income (on premium received faster) through to reduced transport costs of paper from broker offices to London and then on to Chatham (and of course back again!).

As said, we’ve just begun this benefits assessment and we’ll keep you updated.