Lloyd’s Market Process Reform Gains Momentum

Momentum is usually used in the context of football games and political campaigns, not in referring to 300-year old insurance markets. But Lloyd’s certainly seems to be gathering momentum when it comes to business process reform.

A series of initiatives are changing the London market and bringing it into the 21st century. With outside service providers such as RI3K and Xchanging providing the platforms, Lloyd’s has stepped up its own adoption of electronic systems to replace the slipcases and the tons of paper it’s relied on for over 300 years to conduct its business.

In recognition of the changes, Lloyd’s recently announced that it is reorganizing its Market Reform Program Office (MRPO) and Lloyd’s Business Process Reform Departments. They “have been run until now as one area by Andy Brookes, reporting to Steven Haasz, said Lloyd’s. “But to further increase efficiency, Lloyd’s and the Market Reform Group [MRG] have agreed to divide the market and Lloyd’s functions into separate units. The core purpose of this internal reorganization is to bring greater clarity to the role of each team.”

Lloyd’s described the changes as follows:
–Andy will run the MRPO team, reporting to Dane Douetil (MRG Chairman) and the MRG. Reflecting its cross-market purpose, funding for the MRPO is shared between LMBC, IUA, LMA and Lloyd’s.
– Steven, as Director of Business Process and Change Management, will be responsible for the Lloyd’s business process reform agenda. Steven will report, as now, to Richard Ward [Lloyd's CEO].

The bulletin noted: “2006 is on track, as planned, to become a year of successful implementation – as evidenced by progress on contract certainty, and the new electronic claims and A&S infrastructure [See related article]. The MRPO and Lloyd’s teams will continue to work together and with the market to build on this success.

“We will shortly confirm the new contact details of all the team members on the Lloyd’s and MRPO Websites, as well as in the next Market Reform newsletter. In the meantime, please start with your usual contact and they will point you in the right direction should their responsibilities have changed.”