Member Reports - Acord

Australia Program
acord.org/au
Southern Africa Program
acord.org/za
“WE WERE EXCITED ABOUT THE PROSPECT OF SOLVING AN INDUSTRY ISSUE WITH
A SOLUTION THAT BENEFITS THE ENTIRE WHOLESALE SECTOR OF THE BUSINESS.”
-JOHN WELLS, COMMINSURE
Insurance organizations in Australia are embracing ACORD standards with enthusiasm, pragmatism and
steady attention to measuring business benefits. The adaptation of ACORD standards to the Australian
market is proceeding hand-in-hand with the evolution of our standards management process – a synergy
that brings benefits all around the world.
“THIS IS TRULY AN HISTORIC EVENT FOR THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN SHORT
TERM INSURANCE INDUSTRY AS IT IS THE FIRST TIME THAT A DATA
STANDARD IS ADOPTED AND SUPPORTED BY THE MAJORITY OF THE
INDUSTRY. EVERY PROJECT THAT TOUCHES DATA WILL BENEFIT FROM
THIS STANDARD AS INDUSTRY PLAYERS ARE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE IN A
COMMON LANGUAGE AND FORMAT.”
-JAN DE KLERK, CIO, SANTAM
Policy Variation
The Policy Variation message was the first Australia
Life message to move forward to the testing phase from
the ACORD Messaging Library (AML). AML is a set of
globally reusable components that can be configured to fit
specific purposes.
The Policy Variation message is sent from a superannuation
fund administrator to an insurer to initiate the
underwriting process. Currently when funds send data to
various insurers, the data format varies for each insurer
even if the data itself is the same. The Policy Variation
message standardizes that data transmission, creating
efficiencies for software vendors, funds, and insurers.
When pilot testing is completed successfully, the Policy
Variation message will become part of the official ACORD
Standard.
Next year will bring more implementations to the region,
including the start of seamless electronic communication
with Premium Funders.
acord.org/wc
ACORD is making strong progress in Africa, with base standards being put in place as
a foundation for market specializations. The industry in Southern Africa is dynamic and
cost-aware, and sees benefits from ACORD standards in both business expansion and cost
reduction. Progress is swift and orderly, with a solid core of standards now in place alongside
a proven process for introducing new standards.
Launching the Standards
ACORD’s growth in Southern Africa has been helped greatly by partnering with other
insurance organizations. Collaboration with the Short- Term Insurance Data Exchange
(STRIDE), the South African Insurers Association (SAIA) and the Financial Intermediaries
Association (FIA) has produced a Southern Africa XML Standard which is now ready for use.
The first formal Southern Africa messaging standards were voted on by the community
and released in October. The Southern Africa ACORD transaction specification includes
Policy Synchronization, Claim Synchronization, Claim Bordereau, Premium Bordereaux
and Claim Registration.
This new standard enables insurers and binderholders to interact in a single, unique
language. The standard will greatly reduce the cost and effort involved in moving data
between binderholders and insurers, as a single translation enables communication with
any organization mapped to ACORD.
Now that the base standard has been approved, next in line for Southern Africa is expansion
into other lines of business including crop yield, green geyser and even telematics.
The Workers Compensation Reporting Group includes a wide range of insurers, solution providers, and
industry and state associations.
The group continued to work with the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions
(IAIABC) and Workers Compensation Insurance Organizations (WCIO) on mapping electronic data interchange
transactions to ACORD XML . The goal is to give states and insurers an alternative to the current fixed length,
flat file format data Standards.
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