Data Council agrees ACORD standards adoption and content for Core Data Record

March 31st, 2022: The London Market Group is delighted to announce that, at its meeting on March 22^nd, the Data Council, supported by its Technical Group, unanimously agreed that ACORD will be the market’s chosen data standards methodology, with the content of the Core Data Record (CDR) set to align with that. The purpose of the CDR is to facilitate accounting and settlement, as well as tax and regulatory reporting for the London insurance market, and its content will align to ACORD’s Global Reinsurance and Large Commercial (GRLC) standard.

Sheila Cameron, CEO of the Lloyd’s Market Association and Chair of the Data Council commented: “It has been a privilege to work with everyone on the Council and the Technical Group, and especially Steve Hicks from Lloyd’s who leads the data standards and CDR workstream, to achieve these goals. It is a vivid reminder of what the market can achieve when it works collaboratively.

“By aligning with ACORD we can drive greater interoperability of systems, as well as between London and other global insurance markets. Although today’s news focuses on the accounting and reconciliation process, it also provides a foundation to support future market initiatives including pre-bind placement activity. Market firms will need to ensure that they are members of ACORD to ensure they can access the technical information they will require to take full advantage of these decisions.

“Having achieved our goals within the timeline set, we will move onto the next phase of work; developing computable contacts, including the intelligent Market Reform Contract, and deciding on the optimal process for how data should be assembled, as well as who inputs which piece of data, to what degree of quality, at which point in the process. We have made a strong start, but we have much more to do to drive the digitalisation of our market and its adoption to achieve significant change.”

ACORD CEO and President Bill Pieroni said “We are proud to support the London Market in its ongoing, visionary modernisation efforts. ACORD has provided insurance standards for more than 50 years, and the ACORD Data Standards are used by thousands of insurance stakeholders across more than 100 countries. Standards maximise the impact and value of data by optimising the speed, efficiency, and accuracy of information exchange. Having one common ‘language’ for data will not only benefit the London Market’s internal processes but make it easier for insurance markets across the world to connect with London and leverage its centuries of experience and expertise.”

 

ENDS

Notes to editors

Members of the Data Council and Technical Group can be viewed at Home – London Market Group LMG – The London Market Group

 

For more information on this release, the LMG or the Data Council please contact:

Victoria Sisson, Luther Pendragon  |  Tel: +44 (0)7941 294872

 

For more information on ACORD please contact:

UK : William Mutton, Luther Pendragon  |  Tel: +44 (0)7827 903973

US : Beth Jarecki, Luther Pendragon  |  Tel: +1 (917) 364 6044

 

Technical Q&A

Why ACORD as the data standards methodology?

The Data Council has unanimously agreed that ACORD is our chosen data standards methodology for the London market, and specifically within ACORD it is the Global Reinsurance and Large Commercial (GRLC) standard on which we has been agreed. The GRLC standards are the standard to which Ruschlikon aligns.

Today’s news provides a foundation to support future market initiatives including pre-bind placement activity. Market firms will need to ensure that they are members of ACORD to ensure they can access the technical information they will require to make full advantage of these decisions

What’s the CDR?

The CDR lays out the business requirements of data that is required to be captured at the point of bind and sent to the Digital Gateway  for onwards processing in the bureau back office. The CDR is a digital representation of the following four areas of the Market Reform Contract (MRC), and associated data items:

• Accounting and settlement (Company and Lloyd’s markets)
• Claims matching (Company and Lloyd’s markets)
• Tax validation and calculation (Lloyd’s market)
• Regulatory reporting (Lloyd’s market)

The CDR powers these processes and forms – in parallel with the MRC – an irrefutable record.

The CDR does not seek to support submissions or quotes. The CDR is simply data that is recorded in the bureau today – there is no new data. We all have to account and settle and we all have to perform tax and regulatory reporting processes.

Why start there? 

We are taking a measured, phased approach to this project.  Using the CDR as the starting point is about building firm foundations for the future.  We can do this by starting with the area that has historically been one of the most challenging when it comes to cost and rework.

We wanted to identify the common data set needed to power downstream processing, where we all know we absolutely need this information. Over time, we will work back up the process to expand the data set but we firmly believe the CDR for accounting and settlement (or (A&S), claims matching, tax and regulatory reporting is the right place to start.  This is about an incremental change journey and the volume of digital data captured will increase over time and as we move towards computable contracts.

Who owns the standards?

It has been agreed that the CDR will be owned at a business level by the London Market Group and published on its website in due course. The technical implementation information will be owned, managed and maintained by ACORD.  We therefore wish to call on market participants to ensure they are members of ACORD so as to gain access to this technical information, and for those who are members, we request they support the incorporation of the CDR into the ACORD GRLC.

There is some work to do though in getting some new elements added to GRLC to ensure complete alignment with the CDR but we expect the positive and constructive working relationship between ACORD and the Data Council to continue as part of that process.

Market firms will need to ensure that they are members of ACORD to ensure they can access the technical information they will require to make full advantage of these decisions.

What is in the CDR?

The CDR has now been completed for all classes of business and territories, creating a complete data standard to drive the digital processing of direct insurance and facultative reinsurance. This was approved on 22 March 2022 – you can access the approved CDR, find out what you need to do now, and the next steps on the CDR webpages on Lloyd’s website.

What was the process for approving the CDR?

The first iteration of the CDR for North American property placed through the open market was issued for consultation in January 2021. This was followed in November 2021 with the second iteration which set out the proposed data requirements for insurance and facultative reinsurance placed through the open market for all classes and territories. The third and final iteration for direct insurance and facultative reinsurance follows the consultation which closed on 31 January 2022 and provides the complete data set for this scope of work – this is available in Airtable on Lloyd’s CDR webpages.

The approved CDR is the product of over 1,000 pieces of market feedback, and detailed deep-dive sessions with the Data Council’s Data Standards Technical Group in February and early March.

The comments received were all analysed and key themes were identified. These themes were discussed with the Data Standards Technical Group. They included the structure and referencing of contracts and sections, classifying business, market share and roles, and premium, limits and deductibles.

The CDR sets out the standard across direct insurance and facultative reinsurance for the automation of the following processes:

• Premium validation (Company and Lloyd’s markets)
• Automated claims validation (Company and Lloyd’s markets)
• Tax and regulatory automated validations (Lloyd’s market)

What happens next?

The Data Council will move onto the next phase of work; developing computable contacts (including the intelligent Market Reform Contract (iMRC)) and deciding on the optimal process for how data should be assembled, as well as deciding who inputs which piece of data, to what degree of quality, at which point in the process.

The CDR will evolve over time in line with the market and clients’ needs, and claims and messaging data standards will be looked at in the coming months.