Shopping around: AgoraRe.com offers life insurers and reinsurers an online marketplace for facultative reinsurance.

Five years ago CNA Life Re created an online global submission and tracking system that continues to change the way life insurers exchange case documentation and data with reinsurers.

AgoraRe.com is the brainchild of the organization now known as Agora Insurance Network Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Munich American Reassurance Co. Agora, which means marketplace in Greek, is a system that allows direct writers to use the Internet to distribute applications and associated imaged documents to reinsurers of their choice. The system, which supports either a full underwriting or a summary process, supports the entire life cycle of the facultative process, including application, additional information, offers and acceptance.

"We expanded AgoraRe.com's functionality to help reinsurers and direct writers avoid duplicate data entry. We've accomplished this by integrating our systems with our clients' case management systems," said Paul Buckle); vice president, AgoraINS.

The system was piloted to about eight insurers and reinsurers as the Reinsurance Marketplace in 1999 by CNA Life Re, which later was acquired by Munich American. CNA Life Re- then expanded the program throughout the life market the following year.

The number of users jumping on board the system has grown since its inception. In 2000, only two direct writers and five reinsurers signed on to the system, with cases ranging from $250,000 to $1.5 million. AgoraRe.com's reach now extends to more than 15 direct writers and reinsurers, producing about 225 daily transactions.

Savings at Work

The system works by scanning documents and batching together files into a single file. Policies can then be taken to the AgoraRe.com Web site and companies can select which reinsurers they want to receive the file. Reinsurers know who sent the file but not the other reinsurers receiving the same file, Buckley said. Direct writers can then review responses and select the best offer using a case-placement screen that allows them to see all the offers side by side.

"This is a solution to a challenge that the individual life industry had for a long time, which is how to quickly and efficiently write cases that require reinsurance coverage," said Donald Light, a senior analyst with Celent Communication's insurance group, based in the Silicon Valley.

In addition to avoiding duplication and rekeying of data and eliminating lost or misrouted cases, insurers and reinsurers are also saving money. AgoraINS, whose fee schedule is based on a per-transaction model, estimates that the system reduces companies' costs by up to 88% over Express Mail delivery of paper files and duplication-related expenses. A facultative reinsurer, for instance, who handles about 25 cases a week could save about $60,000 annually through the system, Carol Sullivan, former principal of business services for AgoraRe.com and now an employee with Munich American, told event-goers at the 2000 A.M. Best Co. E-Fusion technology conference.

One AgoraRe.com user that did a recent cost analysis of the system, including staff time, copy reproduction and Express Mail costs, found significant savings from its use. "They used to spend $80 to $100 a case, but we were able to get those costs down to about $5 to $8 per case," said Buckley.

The system also is improving time service by at least 24 hours. What used to take 20 to 25 minutes of preparation time, followed by waiting for mail to deliver a 50- to 60-page case back-and-forth, now takes three to four minutes by using the Internet, said Buckley.

Scor Life Re uses AgoraRe.com to import facultative cases from client companies that use imaging technology in their direct operations. If companies have a case that fits the facultative criteria, they use the system as a "transportation highway" to get the case to Scor so it can look at it facultatively, said Bill Whitsell, an underwriting supervisor involved in claims, underwriting and technology for Scor Life Re, based in Dallas.

Challenges

Despite its successes, AgoraRe has gone through a few growing pains. "Taking a process that had little standardization and applying a standard method ... was a bit challenging at first," said Buckley. One of the things AgoraRe did early on was establish a universal standard for the movement of the facultative transaction, he added. "Some companies sent certain pieces of data and others sent something slightly different. We brought some uniformity to that." He said the challenge was understanding how the industry works to ensure the system wasn't taking anything away from the process, but rather enhancing and facilitating it.

The system's capabilities are virtually limitless, said Buckley. AgoraRe.com can accept nearly any electronic document format, and works with Netscape, Internet Explorer, and most Windows systems including 2000, NT, 95 and XP desktops. AgoraINS recently became a Microsoft-Certified Partner. AgoraINS also can provide a plug-in high-speed scanning solution or work with a company's IT staff to deploy a solution for companies that don't have a document management system or a high-speed scanner. It also can provide an integration solution to companies' administration systems or other legacy systems.

Buckley said the people behind the system are key to its integration. AgoraINS technicians man a toll-free help desk to assist users. Additionally, AgoraINS employs Cisco-certified network engineers to provide support for clients' technical staffs. Cisco Systems Inc. provides networking for the Internet. Technicians understand local requirements for workstation issues, network settings and firewalls, Buckley said. In addition, nearly 99.9% of calls coming into the help desk are answered within the first 10 seconds by an AgoraINS employee, he said.

Changing Times

Although the facultative experience hasn't changed, AgoraINS has made several technological enhancements to its system in the past several years to simplify the process for users.

AgoraINS recently added extensible markup language capabilities to AgoraRe.com so that it now can receive data in proprietary XML formats, in addition to an ACORD facultative format. "We tried to give clients an option of how they would like to interface with us, and we have a number of companies that use Web interface to send or receive cases," said Buckley. Companies, for instance, can take information and populate their case management systems.

Several users also now are enjoying the recently added email capabilities that allow them to receive daily e-mail notifications from AgoraINS. Buckley said companies, particularly those with smaller volumes of facultative transactions, benefit by eliminating the need to log onto the system each day to see if they have new cases, responses from reinsurers or new information on a particular case.

AgoraINS also added several reports, such as placement reports and time service, to the system's functionality. In 2003, AgoraINS rolled out a Microsoft Excel-based reporting capability. "At either end of the transaction, users can run a variety of reports based on their cases and can select various criteria, such as a date range, and once they hit the submit button, our system downloads the information into an Excel spreadsheet on the user's local workstation," Buckley said. They can then manipulate the information even further if they desire.

On Guard

Data security and privacy of data exchanged via AgoraRe.com are ensured through use of a public key infrastructure, and all transactions are encrypted at 128 bits. This encryption is in effect during both the transmission and storage of the data and documents. Encryption isn't dependent on the sender's or the receiver's browser settings, and increases in encryption levels can be achieved transparently through upgrades to the underlying application.

Users also have peace of mind knowing that only reinsurers selected by a direct writer have access to a particular case. In addition, the system doesn't require log-in screens, and passwords aren't transmitted over the Internet. "We usually have an easy time keeping our client's information security officers happy because we take a no-compromise approach to information security and we've done our homework," said Buckley.