"We are pleased to add Lloyd's to the list of U.S. retail agents, brokers, MGAs, carriers and vendors currently involved in the process,” says Angelyn Treutel, Retail Agent E&S Initiative co-chair and vice president of the Treutel Insurance Agency in Bay Saint Louis, Miss. "Our goal has been to ensure that all components of the transaction are involved in our discussions and Lloyd's joining the process helps us meet that goal.”
Lloyd’s will be coordinating efforts to improve the efficiency of electronically transferring data from MGAs in the U.S. to the London market.
“North America is an important component of business for the London market and Lloyd’s is working on improving the electronic transaction of data on both binding and open market business, and thus believes it is important to be part of this joint industry group,” says Adam Stafford, senior project manager of Lloyd’s market operations.
The Retail Agent E&S Initiative also announced that it will sponsor a free webinar on July 13th in which Lloyd's would present its current proposals to standardize data collection from its MGAs in the U.S.
The Initiative has subgroups where retail agents, MGAs, wholesalers, carriers and vendors are working together to foster methods to transfer data electronically and to standardize the supplemental applications used in the E&S industry. A third subgroup recently completed a report on moving general agents from using static websites to sites with real-time interface with retailers and now works to promote the group’s efforts and accomplishments. Visit www.iiaba.net/act and click on “E&S Program & Brokerage Market Efficiencies” for information on how to become involved in the Initiative.
The Retail Agent E&S Initiative was formed in 2008 and is led by four industry associations: IIABA’s Agents Council for Technology (ACT), American Association of Managing General Agents (AAMGA), National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices (NAPSLO) and ACORD (Association for Cooperative Operations Research & Development) to improve the efficiencies for Retail Agents (RAs) interacting with managing General Agents (GAs) and wholesale brokers in the Excess & Surplus (E&S) market and to promote the electronic exchange of data between the partners.