(Image source: ACORD.)
The adoption of ACORD standards in the reinsurance sector is leading the way toward broader implementation across the insurance industry, as reinsurers realize significant efficiency gains and cost savings. A recent case study of Echo Re (Zurich), a subsidiary of German reinsurer DEVK Group (Cologne), highlights the rapid benefits achieved through digital messaging standards.
Mark Bennett, SVP, Global Business Development, ACORD (Pearl River, N.Y.), explains the impact: “Echo Re, a relatively new adopter of these ACORD standards, has been able to achieve 70 percent automation efficiency in six months of adopting ACORD standards. As they’ve grown, their team had to grow but when it comes to the accounting function, they haven’t had to increase headcount.” ACORD recently recognized Echo Re as a 2024 ACORD Implementation Excellence Award winner.
Mark Bennett, SVP, Global Business Development, ACORD.
The Echo Re case study, part of the Ruschlikon initiative powered by ACORD, demonstrates impressive results:
- Only 6 months between first broker contact and start of user acceptance testing (UAT) for Aon
- 3 months from UAT start to first live message with Aon
- 75% full automation rate for technical account statements of account within one year of implementation
These efficiency gains are driving interest across the insurance industry. Bennett notes, “If an insurer sees an area of their business such as reinsurance making efficiency gains and therefore improving their margins by adopting digital ways of working, that’s going to get interest in other business areas.”
The ACORD Global Reinsurance and Large Commercial (GRLC) standards, which include digital placing, accounting, and claims standards, are at the heart of this transformation. The Ruschlikon community, formed 15 years ago, has been instrumental in operationalizing these standards and showcasing tangible benefits.
“This Ruschlikon community, formed about 15 years ago, has probably been ACORD’s biggest success by way of a practitioner group coming together, grabbing hold of a set of standards, operationalizing them, and showcasing some of these efficiency savings and benefits,” Bennett says.
To further accelerate adoption, ACORD is establishing regional hubs in key insurance markets worldwide. Bennett explains, “We’re locating these in key specialty and reinsurance markets. London is completed, as is one for Central Europe, which is based in Italy. We’re putting others in Dubai, Singapore, and in Bermuda.”
These hubs will offer ACORD’s ADEPT platform with sponsored transactions to help organizations get started with digital messaging. The initiative aims to make adoption as easy as possible for ACORD members globally.
As the insurance industry continues to digitize, the success of ACORD standards in the reinsurance sector provides a compelling case for wider adoption. Case studies like that of Echo Re, with tangible efficiency increases and rapid implementation, are leading the industry toward a tipping point in standardization of digital communications.
Ping Data Technology and ACORD Solutions Group Announce Strategic Partnership