Five challenges facing the London market

Published:

The TINtech London Market pre-event survey results reveal several key challenges faced by the London insurance industry.

These challenges reflect the industry's ongoing efforts to embrace digital transformation, data management, and modernization.

The survey asked attendees of TINtech London Market what they would like to gain from the event and key challenges they currently face. The results have been compiled and aggregated to help shape the themes that will be covered by the speakers in their presentations and discussed by attendees during the round table discussions.

Here's an executive summary of the five primary challenges identified.


Data management and quality

The survey highlights significant concerns regarding the quality of data and its definitions. From the responses there are continued uncertainties around the practicalities of accurate data capture & standardisation, as data quality from stakeholders across the value chain can often be inconsistent in format, accuracy, and timeliness.
This in turn causes inefficiencies in processing as well as leading to data control and governance issues.

Blueprint Two goes a long way to address these industry challenges (more on this later), and will be explored during the conference, but the results clearly underscore the need for higher data quality standards and the importance of cohesive data management strategies within individual organisations.

Quotes from the survey:

"How do we practically centralise data capture and reduce reliance on Syndicates/DU/MGA for data?"

"How do we move to real-time insights, and do they have genuine benefit?"

"Understand what carriers & brokers are doing with the data and efficiencies that can be gained through pre-bind models"

"Are we modernising data and analytics landscapes that will pay dividends in a more data driven/AI enabled world?"


These quotes are indicative of the industry's recognition of the central role data plays in all aspects of insurance, from underwriting and risk assessment to customer service and regulatory compliance​- as well as its central role in successful modernisation and transformation programmmes.

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) integration and impact

The role of AI in the London market is top of a lot of agendas, with many attendees wanting to discuss how AI will impact the industry, its potential benefits, and the foreseeable challenges. Use cases they are keen to explore include its application in underwriting processes, customer engagement, and data extraction to improve business decision making.
There's a a lot of interest in how to prepare for AI adoption, understanding its impact, and ensuring proper AI governance and ethics.

Quotes from the survey:

"Really interested to hear how the market feels they can embrace AI over and above automation"

"I'm interested to see how far the market thinks this can go. What will our market look like in ten years' time?"

"What areas AI is playing a part in in the industry, and how best to leverage this for insurers"

"The guardrails anticipated for AI use, and what benefits the insurance industry can leverage as a whole"

The responses suggest a keen interest in how AI will be applied within the London insurance market, with an emphasis on understanding and managing its potential impacts on various parts of the value chain and policy lifecycle. This will be a major focus of several of the conference sessions.

 

Blueprint Two (BP2) adoption and integration

The adoption and integration of Blueprint Two clearly pose significant challenges to many attendees.

Concerns include readiness for Phase 1, the uncertainties around timelines and scope for Phase 2, and how  software providers will support the modernisation agenda. There also seems to be some uncertainty around the benefits of BP2,  and whether market-wide adoption of digital processing can be guaranteed.

Quotes from the survey:

"Confirmation of conditions around MRC v3 adoption"

"More technical information on Blueprint 2 phases 1 and 2. So far everything's been more business focussed. The Phase 1 Adoption Guide is very helpful but the mapping of MRC v3 data to CDR is a bit wishy-washy - need something more concrete that extends to ACORD GRLC"

"What is the business case to carriers for Blueprint 2?"

"I'd like more detail on the playbook for integrating bespoke in house applications with the various Blueprint 2 technologies/solutions"

"How long should 'non-digital' working practices like LPANs and EDI be allowed to continue?"

"What are the biggest obstacles facing the London Market's adoption of digital working practices: Core Data Records flowing and API versions of ACORD standards etc?"

It’s clear that the industry is still grappling with the complexities of adopting Blueprint Two, understanding its full implications, and aligning it with broader digital transformation initiatives. Plenty to talk about here!

 

Digital transformation and modernisation

Attendees are keenly interested in the digital transformation of internal processes in underwriting, operations, and distribution. Many are looking for quick wins in modernisation, and effectively pursuing digital transformation while managing legacy systems:

Quotes from the survey:

"How can we retain integration with legacy systems (e.g. PAS) whilst moving forward operationally?"

"Best practice in finding suitable partners, testing approaches and successfully adopting new technologies.
We are constantly delivering change. The main issue is effectively communicating this to both internal and external users."

"Actually transforming Vs automation"

"Why are we so poor at executing transformational change in the London Market and what should we be doing about it?"

The survey results illustrate the complexity of digital transformation in the insurance industry, highlighting the need for targeted, resource-efficient efforts, the challenges of modernizing while running legacy systems, and the technical demands of creating scalable, integrated digital platforms.

 

Market connectivity and standardisation

 

The need for a consistent approach to market connectivity and the standardisation of data and business systems is evident from the survey responses… but questions are being asked about the approach.

Regards connectivity, a key question is how do different stakeholders across the London market value chain, all relying on different systems for data and communications, interact with each other more seamlessly?
The use of APIs is often the default response, but the rapid development of GenAI capabilities could also uncover different solutions in the not so distance future.

Similarly, standardisation is the approach for ensuring that data is uniform, compatible, and easily interpretable across different systems. Without standardised data formats and definitions, each stakeholder may interpret or use data differently, leading to inconsistencies and potential disputes. The sunny uplands of this standardised regime is that new technologies can easily be integrated and various stakeholders will quickly be able to adapt to new systems.
But will this still the case in 12 months time? .

London Market Claims

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