Polaris calls for broker input to develop e-traded product standards

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The Polaris standards underpin all e-trading products

Insurance standards body Polaris is urging commercial and personal lines brokers to help develop a set of questions for the industry to continuously innovate and improve e-trading products.

Industry-owned Polaris manages ‘Standards’, which includes a common agreed list of questions and the answers a customer or broker can select. This underpins all e-traded products.

These standards allow for electronic underwriting to take place. It also enables brokers and Price Comparison Websites to deliver multiple quotes from a common question set.

Polaris’s standards manager Steve Waller said: “Standards are like a living dictionary that allow different parts of the insurance industry to communicate and for insurers to see a consistent presentation of risk.”

The firm held hours of discussions with insurers and brokers last year to develop and maintain Standards.

Changing landscape

Last year, Polaris introduced additional questions regarding building construction and cladding in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire. It has also built the Standards for cyber insurance.

Waller continued: “And just like all languages, Standards are constantly evolving to reflect changes in the way we live, work and travel.

”With Covid-19 we have seen examples of businesses diversifying to survive. The Standards that underpin question sets used to cater for customers’ insurances will need to change to support the changing landscape of industry and we want brokers of all sizes to be involved in what we do next.”

Polaris manages 350 codelists with over 35,000 individual values attached to them.

Codelists incorporate all factors that an insurer will need to determine when offering cover, what terms and premium should be applied.