Ipad makes history in Lloyd's

The first electronic, fully-placed contract via iPad as well as the message exchange has taken place in the London insurance market.

BMS direct and facultative director, Steve Knight, walked into Lloyd’s and met with Catlin Syndicate’s Michael Davern at their box.

Within minutes they had refined and placed a contract using the RI3K platform on his iPad - face to face.

Lloyd's broker BMS has been working with Lloyd’s on its iPad initiative, alongside the Qatarlyst owned RI3K, to integrate the implementation of the new technology within the London market.

BMS are using RI3K, the iPad and the Exchange to establish an electronic trading platform for the London market.

Knight said: “The introduction of the iPad allows us to maintain the hugely important tradition of face to face contact in the London market. There was a concern that this would be lost with increased use of electronic placing. Now we have the initiative and tools which mean we can retain the contact whilst making the whole process exponentially more efficient."

He added: "No longer will brokers have to shoulder heavy briefcases of files over to Lloyd’s, they can be nimble and flexible with only 1.6 pounds of iPad, which is all they really need in the market. Business can happen anywhere; using this system, a contract can be created on the train on the way to work or over a coffee. It has changed the way we work dramatically.”

Lloyd’s director of market operations, Sue Langley, said: “It is great to see so many steps coming together with the risk placed on an iPad in the room, sent directly over the Exchange into a managing agent’s system and back into a broker’s system. Face to face and technology - the perfect partnership."

RI3K’s market place director, Robin Merttens said: “BMS are the first to have grasped the power of RI3K and an iPad. Their brokers don't feel threatened by the technology but empowered by it.

"They now carry around an e-slipcase loaded with all their placing information and by email and integration are connected to the people and systems they need to access. So now they can spend more time on face to face negotiations and value added services while the technology does the rest."

Catlin underwriter Michael Davern said: “At Catlin we strive to make life easier for brokers. Placing risks via an iPad promises to add both speed and flexibility to the traditional broker-underwriter relationship. Technological advancements like this optimise the way in which the market works.”

In September, Lloyd's brokers announced that they were to begin testing iPads to replace paper slips.