The future of e-trading revealed

If you’re looking for an analysis and an overview of the insurance and reinsurance’s e-trading platforms, then look no further than the recent report from Instech London, says Rein4ce’s Account Executive Caitlin Jennings. For the first time ever, a report offers a comprehensive review of e-trading’s 20-year history, as well as looking at the companies that will make the future of trading possible.

The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the insurance and reinsurance market’s adoption of electronic trading, but with so many platforms out there, how do you know which is the right one to fit your needs? Do you need full end-to-end support? Quote and bind? Distribution? And as a broker with carriers all using different e-trading platforms, how do you know which of the platforms supports which bit of the transaction?

Look no further than the recent report from Instech London, E-Trading Platforms: Challenges, Opportunities and Imperative, which looks at previous attempts at e-trading platforms, and the learnings we can gather from these efforts. It also has a fantastic analysis of the existing platforms and how they support the needs of speciality insurers and reinsurers – as well as discussing the role of Lloyd’s and brokers in the adoption of e-trading platforms. It’s everything you need to know about the options available – all in one place.

The report was written by Robin Merrtens, Instech London Partner and co-founder of RI3K, one of the first and most successful insurance and reinsurance e-trading platforms, and Puneet Bharal, RI3K Product Director. The report is brilliantly researched and includes expert opinion and analysis from Robin and Puneet who have more than 20 years’ experience in e-trading and insurtech. They explain the difference between distributed ledger technology (DLT), e-trading platforms that also price risk, and platforms that include the end customer. Robin and Puneet have also included first rate analysis on data standards, market dynamics, the role of the end customer and an insightful analysis of Lloyd’s Blue Print Two.

The best part of the whole report, in my opinion, is the inclusion of existing e-trading platforms separated into ‘market leaders’ – defined by the report as “companies we believe are demonstrating market leadership” – and ‘the contenders’: “companies that have brought solid propositions to market, but have not yet achieved the level of market acceptance to be Market Leaders”.

Each company has a description, size, and importantly an easy-to-understand graphical summary of the “functional scope of the offering. The summary is a value chain, covering the main insurance-related activities”.

Still not convinced you need to read the report? Instech London also has a podcast to accompany the report where Robin is interviewed by guest host Mark Geoghegan, Editor of the Voice of Insurance.

So, what’s next? I would love to see a webinar where all the leaders and contenders discuss their business, Dragons’ Den style, and answer questions about the platform and why they think their platforms deserves a place in the market. Who would be up for that?

Market leaders
Placing Platform Limited (PPL)
Riskbook
Tremor
Relay
Whitespace Platform
Insurwave
ICE Insuretech
iptiQ
honcho
B3i Fluidity Platform