The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) has rolled out a new facility with Accelerate Underwriting that enables members to position non-standard and niche commercial insurance schemes business with UK A rated insurance capacity.
The agreement with Accelerate spells a change for BIBA member schemes as it is not product based. Accelerate will provide solutions for brokers allowing them to create insurance schemes, or manage existing arrangements more efficiently using technology and independent expertise that will meet both broker and client needs.
The Accelerate facility can offer an alternative where existing broker schemes have grown beyond the manual processes in place or where the administration is cumbersome or cannot meet current minimum regulatory or governance requirement.
BIBA members will have access to AcceleRATER, Accelerate’s innovative e-trading platform which has been developed and enhanced during the last two years. The web based platform allows brokers to quote, bind, adjust and renew non-standard business and produces instant documentation including dynamic policy wordings – only the cover sections selected are produced.
This facility reverses traditional scheme models as Accelerate will work with BIBA members to build new facilities for their schemes, rather than presenting standard, ‘off-the-shelf’ products. The new facility will allow BIBA members to focus on operations and sales whilst being supported with expertise in underwriting and product governance.
BIBA technical Services head Mike Hallam said: “We have developed this facility with Accelerate in order to achieve something different and we see this as a great innovation for our members which will help them take control of the direction of their insurance scheme business.
“Accelerate will be able to work with our members to create a bespoke schemes management facility for them that ticks all the product governance and claims handling boxes. We know members will enjoy the freedom to then focus on growing their businesses.”
Accelerate MD Scott Brown said: “We are excited to be launching this facility for BIBA members. Accelerate will control the underwriting framework, product governance and life cycling product management allowing brokers to concentrate on their operations and their sales.
“We’re looking forward to working closely with BIBA to ensure we support their members in delivering a product their customers need as well as providing operational efficiencies along with helping reduce the regulatory burden that brokers face – allowing them to concentrate on working for their clients.”