Marsh taps into digital trading platform to advance digitisation strategy in London market

Intermediary organisation Marsh is continuing the rollout of its digital trading initiative for risks placed in the London market by enabling eTrading of its UK specialty and international business via Verisk-owned platform Whitespace.

Whitespace allows brokers and underwriters to offer, negotiate, place and bind (re)insurance contracts in a digital form.

The move comes after Marsh conducted a pilot using Whitespace in 2023.

The broker expects more than 90% of its UK specialty premium to trade through Whitespace by the end of 2024.

Linking to Lloyd’s

Dominic Samengo-Turner, UK chief executive of Marsh Specialty, explained that a key driver of the digital transformation at Marsh is linked to Lloyd’s of London’s Blueprint Two programme.

He said: “The London insurance market is the natural place to expand the rollout of our digital placement strategy, given its key importance to the global placement and broking community and the drive towards greater efficiency and innovation through digitisation envisaged in the ambitious Blueprint Two programme.

“By prioritising data first – the transition from relying on documents and emails to structured data – and digitally connecting our clients to the best possible solutions, wherever they may be found in the world, we can unlock transformational benefits across the entire insurance ecosystem and unleash a new era of innovation.

”This enhanced digitisation will give us the ability to align our operational processes to the Blueprint programme faster, enabling us to drive benefits for our clients.”

Digital strategy

Tapping into Whitespace is part of Marsh’s global insurance placement digitisation strategy. This is designed to improve clients’ experience and overall operational efficiency through data-led innovation.

Tim Rayner, chief executive of Verisk Specialty Business Solutions, said: “Following last year’s successful pilot [with Marsh], we are pleased to welcome Marsh to the Whitespace platform.

“Our collaboration thus far with Marsh has led to meaningful improvements to the platform, benefiting the London insurance market. As we continue to scale the platform, we expect the arguments for a fully data-first marketplace to become increasingly compelling.”