Jireh Connect, a digital platform for reinsurance brokers to manage placement processes online and part of Jireh Holdings, has announced the successful placement of its first industry loss warranty (ILW).
Set up by insurance-linked securities (ILS) veteran Salvatore Tucci in Bermuda, Jireh Connect soft launched at the start of 2024.
Since then, the “easy-to-use broker platform” has already managed nearly $100 million of capacity across various ILW structures in its first month.
“We couldn’t be more pleased with the early success of Jireh Connect both in terms of facilitating its first bound transaction but also in having six markets actively engage on the platform,” Tucci commented.
He continued: “We have had very positive feedback without our having made any prior public announcement of its availability to them. We credit this positive engagement to our very different approach to technology within our unique market.”
Brokers subscribed to the platform are able to coordinate their reinsurance placements across teams and offices through a centralised, secure cloud-based platform, hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Jireh Connect, which serves as a front-office broker workbench, has been set up to distribute deals, securely share documents with markets and capture external market feedback.
There is also a useful function that allows private internal feedback which is visible only to broker team members, the firm explained.
Through the platform, brokers will be able to manage the placement process online and on their mobile phones.
The ability to use Jireh Connect on a mobile phone will allow them to have a “whole new level of effectiveness and efficiency” during busy renewal periods and heavy travel schedules.
Information is stored in the cloud and brokers can generate analytics on their data to identify trends in market appetite and pricing in real-time to provide more timely and informed strategies to clients when structuring transactions.
Additionally, companies can also improve the accuracy and efficiency of their post-bind processes by integrating bound data from the platform to existing middle and back-office systems.
With an emphasis on being a reinsurance broker workbench for ILWs, Jireh Connect quietly launched as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Additional product offerings and system features will be rolled out based on market demand, the firm noted.
Tucci said: “In the past, we’ve seen the roll out of numerous platforms in the reinsurance market developed by people from outside the industry who, looking in from the outside, endeavour to compress the value chain by disintermediating what they deem to be an inefficient market. We believe this is absolutely the wrong approach.
“Jireh Connect has been specifically designed ‘by brokers for brokers’ to complement the current reinsurance broker market process rather than compete or replace it.”
According to Tucci, ‘forced change’ upon customers was never welcomed regardless of the possible gains for them. He added: “By way of example, despite the unquestionable convenience of ordering and paying for goods via your smartphone, there will always be customers who opt to wait in longer lines to order and pay cash.
“Many previous technology attempts within the reinsurance market make sense in theory and look great in a venture capital pitchbook, but the well-entrenched realities of how reinsurance is bought and sold cannot simply be ignored.
“Given our deep market experience, we designed Jireh Connect to provide the same efficacy to brokers through the platform even when customers or markets opt to communicate via email or in person. That is a significant differentiator between Jireh Connect and others that have come before us.”
