RMS Launches UK Market Data Service

Risk Management Solutions has launched a new initiative amongst six of Lloyd’s largest managing agents aimed at providing advanced exposure data for the London Market. “The RMS® London Market Data Community gives members access to top-quality data that has been standardized for use among the members,” said the announcement.

RMS identified the six companies, popularly referred to as the Group of Six, who will use the new service as, Amlin, Beazley, Brit, Catlin, Hiscox and Kiln.

The “RMS Data Cleansing Team” prepares the data once and then makes it available to the six members, thereby “saving subscribers the time and money involved in preparing the information individually.”

RMS also noted: “Management, investors, Lloyd’s and rating agencies are placing increasing importance on data quality when assessing insurers and reinsurers.” The launch of the service therefore “reflects the surge in demand for high-quality data for accumulation management and for use in catastrophe risk models, and the need for efficient access to this information.”

Jason Futers, vice president of the RMS London market practice, indicated how “highly complex” this type of data can be, “as it varies by source and format, and it needs to be standardized and cleansed before being used for underwriting purposes.” He added that the process “can be extremely inefficient, particularly in subscription markets like London and Bermuda because the same submission is often cleansed by numerous insurers during placement. Poor data increases internal costs and the volatility of catastrophe model output.”

He also noted that according to the research RMS has done “up to 75 percent of an analyst’s time could be saved by using the pre-formatted data.”

London market members using the service will “have access to an innovative self-service portal, allowing them to submit exposure data for cleansing, track progress in real time, communicate with RMSI and receive an audit trail for each account processed,” the bulletin explained.

“The London Market Data Community represents a huge step forward in the way all members access and use exposure data. Across the market, there were considerable inefficiencies in the way we each formatted data to our own standards, so by grouping together we can all reap the benefits,” commented Dane Douetil, CEO of Brit Insurance.

Source: RMS – www.rms.com