09/09/2010

Carriers Exposed to Needless Risk

Carriers are exposed to risk by creaky accounting and reporting systems, says Michael Graham, Director of insurance software specialists Sequel. He believes that forward-thinking insurance companies, such as Imagine, are role models for the market place.

For Graham, accounting and reporting in underwriting are under great scrutiny: “Lloyd’s - and a growing number of international bodies - are calling for ever increasing measures of compliance, transparency and consistency in financial reporting – that pressure is not going to go away. Too few carriers have accurate accounting and reporting systems at their fingertips.”

He believes that modern and compliant tools of the trade are not luxuries but essentials. “It’s ironic that those who deal with risk on a daily basis should use systems that have no clear audit trail and are subject to frequent failures. People are placing their faith in error prone spreadsheets and manual processes that cause carriers untold stress and put the business at risk. Insurance companies need robust and transparent systems to make their work easier and their organisations more effective.”

In contrast with the ‘old style’ approach, Graham sees forward-thinking organisations, like Imagine, as showing the way forward for the industry.

Lance Gibbins, Finance Director at Imagine says, “We have chosen powerful and flexible insurance software to make our operations more effective and compliant…we’ve just gone live. We are the seventh Sequel Eclipse Annual Accounting customer to come on board and gain the great benefits of accurate results, consistency in our financial reporting and reduced reporting times. We are up and running on time and on budget following a six month rapid implementation project.”

Graham concludes: “Imagine and our six other Eclipse Annual Accounting clients, which include Novae, Ascot and Canopius among others, benefit from having fast, accurate and compliant systems. They can run their businesses more efficiently, through standardised processes – and all the while have a full view and true analysis of their data in real time. Their investment in flexible and appropriate software allows them to take today’s and tomorrow’s challenges of regulation, compliance and increased business performance, in their stride.”