How will the new price monitoring tool be wielded by Lloyd's?
Amongst its three reports released this week, Lloyd’s hinted at a number of initiatives for 2008, from a new online coverholder management system to plans to further devlop the brand overseas.
But perhaps the most interesting initiative is the launch of a price monitoring tool, destined for the start of the year. Lloyd’s has not released further details on how it will work, or exactly what benefits it will bring, but it is clear that franchise performance director Rolf Tolle and the franchise board are keen to oversee management of the current cycle.
Tolle recently spoke of the “feeble” cycle management of some managing agents, and this monitoring tool could potentially be used to single out those who are not pricing properly.
It is a moot point as to whether this will lead to control-freakery from Lloyd’s – and more importantly, what action will be taken if the tool highlights pricing indiscipline.
It is however likely that Tolle will be outspoken in his attempts to keep prices within sensible boundaries.
The tool is currently being piloted and does not yet incorporate all Syndicate data. Come 2009, Lloyd’s plans to launch a suite of business information tools for managing agents, and by then expects the pricing tool to have additional benchmarking capability.
