Insurecom will become the leading software house for imarket products within the next six months, Phillip Walter, the company’s chief executive has pledged.
This comes amid an investigation by Insurance Times into brokers’ concerns regarding imarket which included complaints that not enough software houses were fully onboard with the online trading platform, making it difficult to access enough quotes.
Insurecom is aiming to leapfrog rival Acturis in terms of the number of fully integrated imarket products available on its system. Acturis was the first software house to be fully integrated with imarket.
Walter said Insurecom was set to launch full-cycle shops, offices and surgeries products for Groupama and Royal & SunAlliance during the first quarter of 2008.
The company was also testing products with Norwich Union and Allianz, which would be live by the end of the second quarter.
Insurecom is currently live with AXA on most full-cycle products.
Walter said: “We will aggressively increase [the number of] insurers transacting full cycle on imarket. By Q2 we will have the widest range of products on imarket.
“We will have more than Acturis,” he added.
Brokers have complained in the past that not enough commercial insurance products were being traded on imarket due, in part, to the lack of participation by some software houses.
Insurers have also been criticised for not providing enough products for the online trading platform.
Speaking at an industry briefing, Walter said Insurecom, which claims to have a 17% market share, would continue to grow its share in 2008.
He would not be drawn on the market share the company was looking to achieve during the year. But he hinted at international expansion. “We have been talking to brokers in other markets. We will take it offshore,” he said.
Insurecom reported a turnover of £3.7m in 2006, up from £2.6m in the previous year, according to the latest figures filed with Companies House.
Pre-tax profit was £0.35m – its first reported profit for six years – compared to a loss of £4.75m in 2005.
