Latest Sequel Re upgrade enhances competitive advantages for Lloyd’s & London Market underwriters

Steven Barclay Product Owner Sequel Re assesses the latest upgrade.

Key Deliverables include:

• Cloud only deployment
• Further granularity in the coverage-based inuring logic
• New deemed policy functionality
• New accounting period close functionality
• Greater speed, efficiency and control

Version 5 of Sequel Re sees Sequel’s end-to-end outward reinsurance system for Lloyd’s syndicates and London Market insurers move exclusively into the cloud and introduces a number of other updates, bringing further improvements in speed, efficiency and control to the reinsurance process.

Reinsurance has huge strategic value for any insurer. However, underwriters have historically controlled reinsurance purchasing for their individual portfolios manually and separately from one another - a highly inefficient approach in the modern era further complicated by M&A activity, legacy systems and the manual workarounds required on more bespoke or complex reinsurance programmes.

Sequel Re manages the entire reinsurance process, from initial policy enquiry to automated premium and recovery calculations and credit control, via an intuitive web-based user interface. The calculation engine operates in real-time, giving users a comprehensive and accurate view of their latest reinsurance positions across all outwards policies and inwards data, in addition to a host of essential policy management and reporting functions.

When deployed as part of the Sequel suite of products, Sequel Re imports all policy, premium and claims records from Sequel Underwriting, with real-time updates, via APIs. As a standalone product, it also seamlessly integrates with data warehouses and policy administration systems.

By consolidating vast quantities of inward data and outward reinsurance policy information into one system for ease of programme management.

Changes made to the system in 2020 - which included converting the coverage and premium calculation components of the engine into separated, scalable microservices - make Sequel Re more configurable and lay the groundwork for the more detailed statistical output of premium and coverage data now available in Version 5.

The Sequel Re team is in constant communication with its growing user base and has used this feedback to make many improvements across the system. This includes the development of new premium calculation microservices, enabling enhanced scalability and performance while maintaining the full level of granularity, as well as further coverage-based inuring logic for treaty as well as facultative premium values, inclusive or exclusive of specific policies or commissions.

Other updates include new Deemed Policy functionality and new Accounting Period Close functionality to present the full depth of the statistical position for downstream finance systems, as well as new system-wide reports on unissued recoveries and premium statements.

These changes give users a more granular view of premium data, greater speed and nuance in premium calculations, and even more actionable insights from their reinsurance programmes.

Another significant update is the commitment to cloud-only deployment. Sequel offers a fully managed service - internet-enabled solution requiring no in-house support which provides secure access to Sequel applications. As experts in insurer systems and data security, we manage all maintenance and upgrading of hardware, software and infrastructure, allowing our clients to concentrate on simply growing their businesses. Insurers now see transitioning systems into the cloud not only as both safe and achievable, but also as a way to improve performance, resilience and scalability - and this translates into competitive advantage.

Lloyd’s and London Market insurers have in recent years invested millions in updating technology to improve underwriting efficiency, digital placement and regulatory compliance, however, only recently has the market recognised the need to drive up efficiency in its reinsurance processes.

With an increasing number of companies now choosing to purchase reinsurance centrally and buying enterprise-wide coverages, investing in an end-to-end reinsurance system is a logical way to manage reinsurance programmes efficiently while getting the most out of the data.

Syndicates and insurers are increasingly aware of the competitive advantages they can generate by viewing reinsurance purchasing holistically. This is particularly true when it comes to aligning reinsurance programmes with group-level risk appetites and balance sheet objectives - a process arguably never more important than today given the growing threats posed by Covid-19, rising cat losses, silent cyber and other systemic risks.

Author: Steven Barclay, Product Owner, Sequel Re

Find out more about Sequel Re

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