Barbican Insurance Group, which underwrites re/insurance predominantly through its Lloyd’s syndicates, has launched a new technology platform that will automate quoting and binding of new business through certain distribution channels.
With the launch of ‘The Hub’, as the platform is named, Barbican hopes the online, automated quote and bind system will enhance its ability to efficiently bind new underwriting business.
The technology has been developed with specialist Moore Stephens and using RuleBook, the firm’s pricing, underwriting and distribution tool.
Through The Hub, Barbican will be able to benefit from instant policy binding through automation of the extensive administration processes required under delegated underwriting arrangements (DUA).
It will also benefit from immediate generation of quotes and policy forms for submissions which meet the DUA criteria and support of regulatory compliance directly within the system.
Underwriters can pre-programme the details necessary for a DUA into a web-based application. If the submission meets the requirements of the DUA, a quote is automatically produced and policy documentation published.
If a risk doesn’t meet the requirements of the DUA it can automatically be referred to the relevant underwriter where a manual quote can be arranged.
The RuleBook platform can also be integrated with historic loss information datasets, allowing underwriters to make a real-time analysis of the portfolio-level impact of risks on their ultimate loss ratios. The system also incorporates a renewal function, offering information on upcoming renewals in a detailed manner to help speed-up decision-making.
Tools like The Hub can add significant efficiency to the underwriting process for more standardised risks, which often make up a significant proportion of a book of re/insurance business.
Commenting on the announcement David Booth, active underwriter of Barbican Syndicate 1955, said; “By using the Hub, we can greatly enhance the overall efficiency of our quoting and binding process. We believe this new system will be of particular benefit for the more commoditised, high volume products available in the commercial mid-market and SME arena. By being built upon the RuleBook framework, underwriters also benefit from having instant access to detailed portfolio data.”
David Sweet, a partner at Moore Stephens Consulting, also said; “We are delighted that Barbican has selected RuleBook Hub as their distribution platform. The Hub will allow Barbican to deliver an efficient quote to bind process, whilst providing greater control over DUAs, meeting internal and external regulatory pressures. This builds on our two-year relationship with Barbican delivering a best in class pricing and underwriting solution. We look forward to our continuing partnership and working together on future innovations.”
