XL Re and Aon Benfield today announced that XL Re Ltd, XL’s Bermuda-domiciled reinsurance subsidiary, has teamed up with Aon Benfield to become the first local reinsurer to successfully implement automated accounts and cash transactions using Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development (ACORD) messaging standards.
XL Re Ltd has also implemented automated accounts, cash and claims messaging for all London brokers, including Aon Benfield. The system is integrated with XL Re’s single, global IT reinsurance platform.
Charles Cooper, President and Chief Underwriting Officer of XL Re Ltd, said: “XL Re Bermuda is proud to be a leader in this effort to raise the standards of electronic data sharing. The implementation of messaging for backend processing of Bermuda business provides efficiencies by allowing our internal resources to spend more time on business analysis and less on data entry.”
Ian Summers, Joint Chair of the Rüschlikon initiative and Director of Change Strategy at Aon Benfield, added: “The adoption of electronic messaging to support the premiums and claims processes is part of Aon Benfield’s global initiative to enhance client service and provide operational efficiencies for our trading partners. The use of ACORD standards and the Rüschlikon initiative are vital components in globalizing this process.”
The announcement comes as representatives of Aon Benfield’s Global messaging team and other members of the Rüschlikon team are meeting with companies in Bermuda to highlight the advantages of the Rüschlikon Initiative. The not-for-profit venture was started in 2009 and brings together global brokers and reinsurers to identify and realize the business benefits of sharing electronic data using ACORD messaging standards.
The Initiative aims to achieve the following benefits for its members:
– Higher efficiency through the elimination of redundant data capturing and better data quality;
Process certainty through commonly agreed upon rules and performance standards;
– Data certainty through the mapping to a single market standard (ACORD XML messages);
– Process acceleration through automation and reduction of exceptions; and
– Smoother cash flow and reduction of unallocated payments.
Greg Maciag, CEO of ACORD, noted: “ACORD standards only realize full potential when trading partners use them to exchange information. In fact, working with communities of ACORD members (like Rüschlikon) has become a major initiative for us. Both XL Re and Aon Benfield are the leading organizations driving electronic trading across the industry. The benefits they realize are well deserved and will serve as models for other trading partners to follow.”
Source : Aon Press Release
