Catex facultative purchasing platform attracts big insurer
Royal & SunAlliance is to buy all its facultative reinsurance cover electronically through a new trading platform called eFacRe.
The platform, which is currently being piloted, was developed by insurance technology provider Catex.
Catex Europe managing director Tom Bailey said: "It's the first time that we will see a major player implementing an electronic purchasing strategy worldwide.
"And it comes at an interesting time for the industry in looking at the different avenues that it can take."
Bailey added that it would enable R&SA to manage all outward buying of facultative business, which makes up a large proportion of big insurers' reinsurance contracts.
He claimed it would make R&SA's buying more efficient, quicker and cheaper, as well as provide audit trails and data analysis facilities.
Facultative reinsurance is reinsurance that is arranged on an individual basis, as opposed to treaty reinsurance, the most common form, where large chunks of risk are ceded to reinsurers.
Bailey added that the platform was "in line with Catex's view of the evolution of the market, with interconnected and integrateable platforms that people can customise and tailor to suit their own ends".
Catex has already developed one of the world's largest internet-based, business-to-business exchanges for insurance, reinsurance and risk management.
