Broker clinic: e-trading needs to maintain a human element

Brokers are worried that e-trading for complex policies will not capture all the intricacies of the risks being covered as the broker-insurer relationship is eroded.

However, Insurance Initiatives head of software houses and insurer development Lawrence Caley says the concerns can be addressed by including a human element to e-trading.

Speaking on the panel at the NIG e-trading Broker Clinic organised by Insurance Times, Caley told delegates that online trading for complex risks needed to maintain the personal relationship of traditional methods.

“Insurers need to recognise they need to augment and supplement the data capture process with other ways of communicating with their broker in the online world,” he said. “To facilitate the trading relationship that you need.”

Acturis co-chief executive Theo Duchen agreed with this statement. “I don’t see e-trading as being mutually exclusive from the insurer relationship,” he said. “Insurers should be making sure that their service is appropriate to the relationship, and that is just as important in the electronic world as in the manual world.”

One service that brokers seemed keen for insurers to implement was that of real-time online chat to maintain an open dialogue between insurer and broker. This would allow brokers to keep their expertise to the fore amid fears that the broker-insurer relationship was under threat from e-trading.

In response to delegates concerns Caley said that successful implementation of an online platform for complex risks would actually allow the relationship to grow. “If you can get these services employed successfully, that should ensure the relationship that you value will continue to play a part,” he said.

Caley summed up his view of e-trading for complex risks, saying: “You need to get away from the view that it’s all about rating engines. It is all about finding a way to facilitate the relationship.”