NU puts its money where its mouth is

At Norwich Union, we are putting our money where our mouth is - we are absolutely committed to Imarket.

We are launching our package products to essentially all the main software houses and we're going to be able to do quotes on new business this year and MTA and renewals next year.

The benefits of integrated trading are massive. If we're going to cut out cost, the customer is going to benefit.

What we are interested in is when brokers are going to start using Imarket.

From our conversations with brokers, it seems they are looking for functionality, a range of products and a range of insurers.

NU is looking to spend over £20 million in the next few years on e-commere.

There will be opportunities, possibly at lower level e-trading, where effectively we just integrate with the brokers' systems, but it comes to the insurance company as a structured email.

We'll be looking at auto rating for the slightly less complicated products, which means the underwriter will get something which has already been book-rated, but the underwriter will negotiate that with the brokers.

For insurance companies, one of the major benefits of Imarket is the access to brokers. We can access brokers quite easily through electronic trading.

We can reduce costs, and obviously improve service.

Integration with brokers' back office systems is absolutely critical for brokers.

If we can automate, so can others. And brokers will come under increasing threat from other brokers who may be doing things differently electronically.