Blueprint Two’s ‘continual slippage’ in delivery raises market concerns

The “continual slippage” against the communicated delivery timetable for Blueprint Two – the digitalisation project being undertaken by Lloyd’s of London – is “slightly concerning”, according to Paul Andrews, chief executive of PoloWorks and Polo Managing Agency.

Unveiled in November 2020, Blueprint Two is a road map for modernising business models, practices and systems within the Lloyd’s market.

It outlines the key action points and timeline for implementing the marketplace’s Future at Lloyd’s digital transformation initiative, which first launched in 2019. This seeks to end paper-based processes, so that a digital, data led and automated approach can be utilised instead.

Phase one of the project is focused on building the capabilities required to process premiums digitally, as well as deliver faster claims payments.

The subsequent phase two will include the launch of a Core Data Record (CDR) – this will establish a singular, digital version of data for policies written within the Lloyd’s market and help maintain consistent data standards.

The CDR’s data standards will feature in a new intelligent market reform contract (IMRC).

However, the official introduction of Blueprint Two’s measures has been delayed more than once.

In June 2023, Lloyd’s estimated that phase one of Blueprint Two would launch in June 2024 – this was  pushed back to July 2024 before being further delayed to October 2024.

Then, in a market statement last month (21 June 2024), the phase one cutover was once more delayed by Lloyd’s.

Lloyd’s chief executive John Neal refused to set a date for when Blueprint Two’s phase one cutover would occur.

Speaking exclusively to Insurance Times, Andrews said: “The delayed progress [on Blueprint Two], in my opinion, is down to an underestimation of the scale of the project by market participants themselves.

“The market needs to digitise, but it was always going to be a huge, complex and difficult undertaking.

“Everyone is of the opinion [that] the project needs to happen and that delays are inevitable. What is missing is a realistic timeframe with deadlines.”

‘Comprehensive modernisation’ needed

Although Andrews has concerns about Blueprint Two’s delivery, he is an advocate for the digital transformation that the scheme aims to implement.

Andrews noted that the London market is long “overdue comprehensive modernisation”.

He continued: “Modernisation will improve the market’s underwriting and provide a deeper understanding of the risks they are insuring.The inefficiencies are multiple, which adds to the cost of transacting business in and out of London.

”Underwriters need access to accurate and detailed data, efficiently captured, which can then be reused. 

“This is why Blueprint Two needs to happen. It’s a large scale project that the market has heavily invested in.

”Our market is very complex in the way we transact business across different classes, multiple jurisdictions and currencies. The Blueprint Two messaging system, with its complementary CDR, is being developed to transport digital risk information at scale.

“The digital underwriting ecosystem the market wants to embrace must happen. To be successful, it has to have a modern approach that’s data first.”