Long in the making, the LexisNexis Insurance Exchange now has an official governing body that will oversee its efforts.
The oversight group and the entity itself are taking a step away from the moniker “Single Entry, Multiple Carrier Interface,” which the industry commonly used over the past several years to represent the exchange and its progress.
Instead, the LexisNexis Insurance Exchange refers to itself as a single-entry collaborative insurance placement platform designed to automate and streamline the flow of application data and documents between insurance agents and brokers and wholesalers and carriers. It is designed to promote and facilitate competition in insurance markets and to provide a level of efficiency and increased productivity.
The Trust is designed to provide a vehicle for agents, brokers, wholesalers, and carriers to monitor the Insurance Exchange operations according to its founding principles of fairness, neutrality, and protection of data. It serves as an advisory board to LexisNexis Insurance Exchange.
Members of the Trust’s founding board of trustees (see below) represent several industry communities; carriers, agents, brokers, and even technology standards experts comprise the group.
“Visualize the Trust as a ring around the LexisNexis Insurance Exchange, which functions to facilitate transparency, neutrality, fair pricing and data protection for all Insurance Exchange participants,” said Ken Crerar, president of The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers and Executive Chair of the Insurance Exchange Trust Board of Trustees. “The Insurance Exchange is an open ecosystem designed to help the entire industry and The Trust will play an advisory role to LexisNexis Risk Solutions as the industry works together to shape the Insurance Exchange.”
A non-stock membership company that will be managed by members of the Board of Trustees, the Insurance Exchange Trust Inc. held its first meeting of the Board on October 5 in Colorado.
At the Board meeting, the major concern of the industry–protection of data–was reconfirmed with LexisNexis Risk Solutions. The Trust holds the exclusive rights to determine any use of the participants’ data that passes through the Insurance Exchange pipeline for external commercialization. In addition, any data that might be approved by the Trust would have to be aggregated and de-identified.
The following have been named to the Board as founding trustees:
J. Hyatt Brown, Brown & Brown
Andrew G. Cassidy, Early, Cassidy & Schilling, Inc.
Albert R. Counselman, RCM&D, Inc.
Ken A. Crerar, The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers
M. Steven DeCarlo, AmWINS Group, Inc.
Sharon Emek, CBS Coverage Group, Inc. representing the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America
Clyde H. Fitch Jr., State Auto
Lawrence G. Graev, The GlenRock Group, LLC representing MarketCore
James Hackbarth, Assurex Global
Russell Johnston, CHARTIS
Greg Maciag, ACORD
Markham R. McKnight, BancorpSouth Insurance Services, Inc.
Mark J. Moitoso, Liberty Mutual Group
H. Wade Reece, BB&T Insurance Services, Inc.
George A. Steadman III, Rutherfoord/MMA
Robert H. Rheel, Zurich.
The Insurance Exchange launched an Early Adopter Controlled Release with 16 leading U.S. brokerage firms that will submit applications over the next several months to test the system and provide feedback. Importantly, all carriers can access the Insurance Exchange from day one, meaning an agent or broker can reach all of their appointed markets by inviting their carriers to receive submissions through the Insurance Exchange.
Full production through the Insurance Exchange is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2011.
