MS Amlin, the re/insurance subsidiary of Japanese insurance group MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, has commenced trading risks on the Whitespace platform, a cloud-based solution aiming to digitise the placing process of insurance contracts at Lloyd’s.
The firms were engaged with Whitespace in an extended Proof of Concept to examine the viability of the digital platform.
The Whitespace platform turns Market Reform Contracts into a digital format at their point of creation and offers a distributed platform that allows brokers and underwriters to interact, collaborate, negotiate and bind risks.
The digital slips look exactly like they do in paper form but are no longer documents, and the interaction between brokers and underwriters reflects the current face to face process.
However, because the process is digital it offers the potential for significant efficiency gains – and potential cost savings – over the current paper based process.
Whitespace says that document transactions today require back and forth editing and then transcribing or using optical character recognition software to extract data into back office systems.
Now that actual trading has commenced, MS Amlin believes the technology will play an important role in enabling improved efficiency, accuracy and customer service.
“The introduction of Whitespace to Lloyd’s is an important step forward for the market and will improve the way we transact with our clients,” said Alberto Verga, Chief Operating Officer of MS Amlin AUL. “Lloyd’s is on a journey, and the use of technology is vital in taking it to its destination.”
Whitespace has already gained conditional recognition from Lloyd’s for electronic placement, working with mid-tier organisations and/or discrete teams in larger organisations.
Thus, all risks placed using the Whitespace platform will count towards the electronic placing targets set by Lloyd’s.
“We fully support the digital transformation at Lloyd’s and are confident that the market will benefit from the improved efficiencies Whitespace will inevitably bring,” added Verga.
