Digitisation of London market will ‘empower’ face-to-face trading

Digitisation will “empower” face-to-face trading within the London market as it will allow for more time to “maximise” client relationships.

That was according to Joe Gordon, chief executive of Placing Platform Limited, who told Insurance Times that the benefit of digitisation was “broad”.

Gordon made the comment after his firm and Artificial Labs signed a multi-year partnership agreement.

The deal, which was announced on 10 January 2024, will see the two firms work together to accelerate the development of a fully digital trading platform for the London market.

Gordon said: “Our partnership with Artificial Labs has been in planning for many months, supporting our strategic intent to empower the London market through end-to-end digital trading.”

However, he noted that “personal relationships will still be critical in putting together cover for complex risks and this will never change”.

“Digitisation will empower those operating on a face-to-face basis as less time will be spent on operational steps and more time and focus can be devoted to maximising the value from client relationships,” Gordon said.

Phases

The partnership is set to help companies in two phases.

In the first phase, the partnership introduces Artificial Labs’ contract builder to PPL customers.

The platform will generate market reform contracts (MRC) on a broker’s behalf and then automatically update to reflect the agreed terms as the negotiation proceeds.

In the second phase, brokers can use tools to digitally review market responses, merge and compare proposals and accept or reject offers.

”Not only will brokers and insurers benefit, but end clients will also experience improved claims and administrative processes, given data will no longer be rekeyed multiple times by multiple participants in the risk,” Gordon said.

“Customers will receive more accurate documents and information earlier.”