CSIO Announces Working Group to Advance Implementation of Commercial Lines Data Standards

Toronto – July 10, 2018  The Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO) is pleased to announce a national working group to advance the implementation of commercial lines data standards in the broker channel. Standards drive efficient workflow between brokers and carriers, improve the speed of information exchange, and strengthen the value proposition for our industry.

Adopting standards in personal lines has provided tremendous value to the broker channel, and the industry is now at a point where it can consider using CSIO XML standards to realize these benefits in commercial lines. To help guide the industry in shaping what the implementation of commercial lines standards will look like, CSIO commissioned the Conference Board of Canada to conduct extensive industry consultation through a broker focus group, phone interviews with carrier executives and vendors, and a survey of 130 brokerages.

The Conference study found that 91% of brokers said they are more likely to work with carriers who have implemented standards. Commercial lines standards will allow for faster and more efficient information exchange, reducing errors and double entry. However, due to the complexity of commercial risks and the investment required to be the first in market, broad industry support is needed to ensure widespread adoption among carriers, vendors and brokers.

CSIO’s response to those insights resulted in the new working group, comprised of carrier and broker representatives including: Aviva Canada, Gore Mutual, Intact Insurance, Northbridge Insurance, RSA Canada, Travelers Canada, Wawanesa Insurance, and Insurance Brokers Association of Canada (IBAC). The group’s objective is to define the minimum data elements common to all commercial risks that can be used as a starting point for all carriers and vendors, reducing future development time, investment and effort industry-wide.

“This working group is the first concrete step towards a dramatic transformation of commercial lines workflow for the broker channel,” said Catherine Smola, president and CEO of CSIO. “We look forward to collaborating on this initiative to support our industry by implementing a minimum data set that will serve as a roadmap for future commercial lines development.”

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About Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO)

CSIO is Canada’s industry association of property and casualty insurers, software providers and over 36,000 brokers. CSIO is committed to improving the consumer’s ease of doing business within the broker channel by overseeing the development, implementation and maintenance of technology standards and solutions such as eDocs, eDelivery and eSignatures. In addition, CSIO operates the industry-owned mail network service, CSIOnet. CSIO maintains offices in Toronto and Montreal. For more information, visit csio.com.

For further information, please contact:

Stephanie Wei | Communications Manager
110 Yonge Street, Suite 500 | Toronto, ON  M5C 1T4
(416) 360-1773 x 2323 | 1 (800) 463-2746 x 2323
swei@csio.com | www.csio.com