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“There are still too many firms who have not yet gone live – or even signed up, so I ask all those interested in the long-term success of London to identify what they need to do to get on board and get on with it.”
It looks like Placing Platform Limited (PPL) chair Bronek Masojada wants no time wasted, even with May 2018 figures showing a doubling in daily average practitioner log-ins and an increase in risks placed. According to usage figures released by the PPL board, most major classes of businesses are binding more than 10% of their risks on the electronic placing platform.
At the end of May, risks placed on a weekly basis were at around 400, compared to 300 a week at the end of December last year.
“Levels of activity on the platform inevitably ebb and flow reflecting renewal activity in the market, but the adoption trend on PPL is moving upwards,” said Masojada. “Lloyd’s, the IUA (International Underwriting Association of London), and LIIBA (London & International Insurance Brokers’ Association) will all be looking to their members to report their activity on all live classes of business in Q2, and we hope that this increased transparency over usage will encourage firms to widen and deepen their activity on the platform.”
Earlier this month, aviation classes of business went live on PPL – meaning only reinsurance and verticalised placements are “left to go,” according to the chair, who also noted that May 31 saw “more users logged on than ever before.”
Commenting on the latest figures, LIIBA chief executive Christopher Croft said: “Everything about these numbers is moving in the right direction. Endorsement requests and acceptances show solid growth as do firm orders. Quote requests received made a particularly big leap forward in May.”
Croft concurs that organisations should get on with it, with the trade body doing what it can to support the initiative.
“LIIBA is working with those members yet to sign up for PPL to help them come onboard,” he said. “We have weekly demos of the system in our offices and these are attracting 40–50 people at a time. We have also now co-opted the help of our board members, each of whom is targeting a specific firm and seeking to persuade them that now is the time.”
“Get it right, right from the start”
Both Croft and Masojada highlighted the importance of using the platform right from the start, or from initial submission.
“Our goal is to drive adoption from current levels to 30% of London risks by the end of 2018,” said Masojada. “And, as importantly, we want those risks to start from submission. Submissions have doubled since the beginning of the year – but from a very low base.
“If we don’t get it right, right from the start, we are squandering the opportunity to get accurate data at the front end of the placement process and then the critical structured data at the end. We will only be doing part of the job we need to do.”
Echoing the same sentiments, Croft commented: “It’s not just about signing up, though; it’s about using PPL in the most effective way possible. That means not waiting till the risk is bound to put the data on to the system, but to ensure it’s used from initial submission.
“This is how we can ensure that our clients will reap the maximum benefit possible from the market-wide adoption of this innovative technology.”
