Marsh Places 10,000-Plus Risks During 2018 via London’s Placing Platform (PPL)

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Marsh announced it placed more than 10,000 risks in 2018 through Placing Platform Ltd. (PPL), the electronic insurance placement platform used by Lloyd’s, London market insurers, and brokers. Marsh has now bound more than 15,000 risks in total on the platform.

PPL is a core component of the London Market Group’s Target Operating Model (TOM), which aims to make it easier to transact insurance in the London market, said Marsh. PPL enables brokers and insurers to quote, negotiate and bind business digitally, removing paper from the process and creating a digital information flow and audit trail. PPL aims this year to have 100 percent of risks entering the market placed electronically through the platform.

In an announcement made last month, the Corporation of Lloyd’s confirmed its electronic placement targets for the first half of 2019.

For Q1, each syndicate will be required to have written no less than 40 percent of its risks using a recognized electronic placement system (beyond PPL) with the target increasing to 50 percent in Q2, said Lloyd’s in a statement issued in December. A quote target will also be introduced in Q2 2019, and all targets will now apply to both lead and follow business.

To support electronic risk placement adoption across the market, Lloyd’s brokers will be required to connect to a recognized electronic placement platform by June 1, 2019, said Lloyd’s. (Recognized platforms are listed on Lloyd’s website).

In last month’s target announcement from Lloyd’s, the market’s Chief Operating Officer Shirine Khoury-Haq, said: “Since we implemented this mandate across the Lloyd’s market, we’ve seen a marked increase in the adoption of electronic trading, which is fast-tracking our transformation. The latest developments, including quote targets and the Lloyd’s broker requirement, are essential next steps in our journey to digitize our market and to provide the best possible service to our clients.”

The electronic trading mandate was issued in the first quarter of 2018. It is designed to accelerate the market’s digital transformation to ensure the market realizes the benefits of electronic placement.

With today’s PPL progress announcement from Marsh, Paul Moody, CEO, UK Specialties, commented: “We’re delighted to achieve this significant milestone on PPL. By driving adoption of electronic placement we are able to enhance service to clients by producing key documentation when the risk is bound, which can then be sent to clients on the same day. With all policy details stored digitally in one place, insurers can easily access risk information in the event of a claim, making the process more efficient for clients. Marsh fully supports PPL and is committed to accelerating adoption of the platform.”

The electronic placing platform provided by PPL was launched in July 2016, initially for standalone terrorism business. Today, all classes of business are available on the platform, with 58 brokers and 124 carriers signed up.