Willis Group Holdings plc, the global risk adviser and insurance and reinsurance broker, is leading the drive to improve operating efficiencies in the insurance market with aims to double its E-Accounting partnerships in 2013.Willis Limited, the UK broking arm of Willis Group, and Amlin Bermuda a branch of Amlin AG, a leading independent insurance group, today announced the successful launch of a full electronic accounting process between the two companies, using the current (2010.2) ACORD data standard and exchanging messages via TMEL (The Message Exchange Limited).
The announcement demonstrates further expansion in the adoption of e-Accounting, which will reduce paper-based transactions and improve accounting and settlement performance. This is the first Willis implementation of 2013 and its first with a Bermudan company. For Amlin, this is the very first e-Accounting implementation.
Paul Owens, COO for Willis Limited stated: "Our roll-out of e-Accounting as a means to drive efficiencies and improve service is gaining real momentum. This is our first implementation with a Bermuda-based company and demonstrates our desire to increase our e-Accounting coverage as far as possible. Our e-Accounting throughput volumes have increased by 85% year-on-year, helping to reduce queries and rework, reduce levels of unmatched cash and improve settlement turnaround."
Richard Brame, Willis Accounting & Settlement Change Programme Director, added: "Amlin have been a great partner to work with and we look forward to realising the benefits of e-Accounting with Amlin moving forward. We now have ten live e-Accounting carrier partners and are looking to double this by the end of 2013."
Steve Bardell, Amlin Bermuda's Underwriting & Operations Manager added: "We anticipate realising almost immediate benefits from weekly premium payments and reduced paperwork. The team at Willis were a pleasure to work with as they guided us through a very straightforward implementation process."
Willis is an active member of the Ruschlikon initiative, which aims to automate back-office processes, and the LMG Non-Bureau Working Group and Amlin is a member of the Bermuda Ruschlikon Steering Committee.