​John Neal: Blueprint Two is at ‘pivotal point’ to make Lloyd’s market ‘better, faster and cheaper’

There will be a one to two quarter delay in the delivery of some solutions within Lloyd’s of London’s digital transformation project Blueprint Two - but the programme will still be delivered overall in 2024, according to Lloyd’s chief executive John Neal.

Speaking earlier this week (5 December 2022) at an event hosted by Lloyd’s and joint venture partner DXC Technology, Neal told attendees: “As we stand at the close of 2022, we are at a pivotal point in this transformation.

”We’ve outlined a clear plan – we’ve got a complex mosaic of stakeholders who are collaborating to execute what we’re talking about.

“We are making real strides [in Blueprint Two] and [are] doing [this] broadly on time and on budget.

”We have been super clear [with] the market that there will be no extra levy to pay for this change and we will roll out solutions as soon as they are available.”

Building the transformation process

The Future at Lloyd’s strategy, focused around the market’s digitalisation, initially launched in May 2019 following “pretty overwhelming” feedback from brokers, underwriting associations, asset investors, capital providers and end customers.

The key goals of the initiative were outlined in Blueprint One, which was published in September 2019, while Blueprint Two - published in November 2020 - further clarified the steps market participants and other stakeholders would need to take to help action the strategy.

Neal explained that Blueprint Two sought to refine Blueprint One, creating a “single, tangible set of deliverables and solutions that did not deviate” from delivering “three principles” that market participants told Lloyd’s it wanted.

This included the provision of ”more comprehensive and high quality coverage for risks, a much simpler process of accessing [the] London and Lloyd’s [markets] and a lower cost of doing business”.

Blueprint Two’s first interactive guide launched in May 2021, followed by an updated version in January 2022.

Neal continued: “As with all transformations, it’s been a journey to get to where we are today and we have been through several initiatives over the years to transform how we do things. [For example,] how do we bring legacy systems into the present? How do we drive down the costs of the way we do business?

“Ultimately, our responsibility is to be able to design better products and sell more products to our own customers. We’re building on good foundations that are already in place.”

Connecting data 

To support the implementation of the Future at Lloyd’s strategy, Lloyd’s agreed a joint venture with IT company DXC Technology and representative body the International Underwriting Authority (IUA) in January 2022, to bring to fruition a Core Data Record (CDR) and automated processes.

Neal said: “We’re making our market better by standardising and harnessing the use of data, reducing duplication and re-engineering all the processes that we use from placement, to bind, to creating the account record.

“We’ve done that in conjunction with London Market Group (LMG), [which chose] to create [another] market data council [that] has agreed the scope for the Core Data Record, to standardise the use of data across the market. That’s a first for the global corporate, specialty insurance and reinsurance [market].”

The LMG is a market-wide body that is supported by the IUA, Lloyd’s of London, the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) and the London and International Insurance Brokers’ Association (Liiba).

Lloyd’s has also reconciled several of its partnerships and platforms that Neal believes are “pivotal” to the market’s success - this includes the aforementioned data council as well as Lloyd’s of London’s delegated authority platforms.

For example, Lloyd’s created a digital connection between its Delegated Contract and Oversight Manager (DCOM) platform and its Delegated Data Manager (DDM) tool, effective from October 2022. This enables data to automatically flow from DCOM into DDM upon registration of a binder, reducing the need for rekeying data.

Market opportunity

Neal admitted that although Lloyd’s still had “catching up to do” around digital transformation, the market still has an opportunity to get ahead.

He added: “Blueprint Two is making things cheaper. With full adoption in the marketplace, [we] will see at least a 40% reduction in market processing costs. 

“It’s for all of us at Lloyd’s and within the joint venture to build the solutions and show you how you can connect effectively to them. But it’s ultimately for you to adopt and use those solutions.”