Within the market today, there are many challenges and issues facing the broker community. Not only are organisations trying to find a competitive edge to improve their commercial performance, but they also have to meet the FSA regulatory requirements.
The FSA is actively looking to improve risk management within the industry. Key areas being addressed include:
- ensuring senior managers take responsibility for systems and controls
- making individuals accountable for the smooth operation of basic procedures and controls with a clear focus on the risks involved within the business.
Key FSA requirements
Key to the FSA are the following:
- an organisation must be able to demonstrate clearly an understanding of what procedures and controls are required. This proves an understanding of the FSA's requirements and how they are to be addressed. The FSA sees this as an essential step towards full compliance;
- the implementation of systems to address the relevant workflow areas of the business. This demonstrates an awareness of the issues, and the actions being taken to address the regulatory requirements;
- the provision of evidence on the status of each business process and a commitment to providing ‘continuous visibility’ of each aspect of the business;
- Pre-contract certainty. Ensuring all required business stages have been completed before the final contract is signed. The broker now needs to ensure the entire business process is properly completed before final confirmation of the contract.
Improve operational procedures
All businesses are looking to improve operational procedures. This includes the introduction of key controls in line with the regulatory requirements including:
- ‘early warning’ capabilities for inception dates, renewals etc
- the ability to drive cash through the business and improve overall cashflow and cash management through the implementation of systems supporting this objective
- the improvement of core operational processes, driving for cost savings from the business leading, in turn, to potential competitive advantage
- improved system accessibility to an expanded market.
The bIntelligent for Workflow application addresses the challenges and issues faced by insurance brokers within today’s highly competitive marketplace. The application supports the business process of insurance application within both the Lloyd's and open market.
The application has been developed using the Microsoft .NET Development Framework and delivers a secure, web-based application that will enable agents to enter insurance applications for electronic submission to brokers and follow and track the application through the business workflow process to completion.
The broker is able to process, monitor and track all applications through from receipt to either acceptance or rejection. Effective and efficient electronic management of each and every application provides key business benefits in terms of process timescales, process monitoring and reporting and, ultimately, business performance.
The KPI reporting and Dashboard reporting module provides the key capability to drill down into the business data to facilitate the understanding of overall business performance and to help identify potential bottlenecks and problem areas within the overall process. This will assist not only with the overall business process management but also with the understanding of the tracking of cash within the application process.
Key features
- secure, web-based solution
- full audit trail and log of each application through the business process
- generic support for all lines of business
- support for multiple market applications
- up-to-date application tracking capability
- support for agent / broker / underwriter application interaction within the overall business process
- generic technology easily integrated into back office systems
- full Bordereaux report production
- full document management & production (slips, quotations, certificates etc)
- agent payment account facilities
- implemented on industry leading Microsoft .NET platform
- full BI reporting, KPI and dashboard module available.
For more information on bIntelligent about Workflow please email info@bintelligent.co.uk.