Imarket - four myths debunked

There have been suggestions that imarket (i) only does small risks; (ii) is for quotes only; (iii) can't handle schemes; and (iv) hasn't delivered anything much yet. Let's take these in turn.

Imarket only does small risks. Wrong. Commercial combined and fleet business has been traded on imarket via single data capture forms for over 18 months. This year will see such complex classes available for trading directly from broker software house systems via imarket.

Imarket is only ever for quotes. Wrong. Imarket currently supports quotes, and new business, mid-term adjustments and renewal processes have been agreed with insurers and software houses for subsequent implementation.

Imarket can't handle schemes. Wrong. Those brokers concerned can handle schemes on imarket by way of amended private versions of the existing products for exclusive access. We are also populating a schemes library on imarket for brokers to promote their sub-broked schemes.

Imarket hasn't delivered anything much yet. Wrong. The seven leading software houses and seven leading commercial insurers in the UK have all committed to imarket as the industry solution, and because of this 2,170 broker firms have signed up. There were 17,500 individual transactions in January alone. Two software houses have already successfully integrated with three more to follow in a few weeks. In addition to single-sign-on access to insurer extranets and comparative quotes for nine commercial classes, other value-added services are available such as discounted wording comparison and marketing services, and the electronic cover notes service.

Yes, it's taken a long time and, yes, we probably did raise expectations too high in 2003. We finished building the infrastructure last year and all the insurers are working hard to make maximum use of it. We'll see insurer products flowing onto software-house systems over the rest of this year and we expect to be announcing several new insurers joining imarket in the coming months. We are addressing the length of single data capture forms and are also actively exploring other developments.

Rome wasn't built in a day. While it is easy to criticise, this is premature as it ignores the great potential of what the industry can achieve when we work together.