Use of shared data standards will revolutionise and empower us all say CEOs
Source: London Market Group
LONDON, 3rd June 2025 – Today, industry CEOs published an open letter to the London insurance market launching a campaign to win “hearts and minds” and persuade market participants of the power of a single shared data standard.
Sheila Cameron, Chair of the Data Council and CEO of the Lloyd’s Market Association, said: “Data has the potential to revolutionise our offering to clients. We can unlock magic when we all use the same standard. Look at other sectors, like open banking, and imagine what we can do across our industry, which is far more interwoven especially at Lloyd’s, than banking has ever been.
“Shared data standards save costs, break down barriers between London and the rest of the world, allowing London Market players to bring their unmatched capacity and expertise to other global insurance hubs.”
The shared data standards campaign will run throughout June online and will include:
- A call to action from the CEOs of ACORD, the IUA, LIIBA, Lloyd’s, the LMA, the LMG, PPL, Velonetic and Verisk;
- A launch event in the Underwriting Room at Lloyd’s where 30 leading London Market figures will assemble a jigsaw puzzle in under two hours against the clock.
Bob James, CEO of Velonetic, said: “Data standards are so simple and yet so often resisted as being ‘complicated’. They are really the ‘cookie cutter’ that saves time and effort. This campaign sets out to reach everyone in the industry, be they underwriter, accountant or analyst; helping everyone realise that if we share data standards we can do our jobs better, work faster and deliver massive benefits to clients.”
Chris Newman, President International of ACORD, said: “If data is held in a single format, you often don’t need complex and challenging projects to deliver real benefits – local projects have tremendous potential for all parts of the market if we can only align to one data standard. That is what ACORD GRLC was set up to do.”
John Mason, CEO of Placing Platform Limited, said: “My experience at the London Stock Exchange taught me that strong markets are built on strong market infrastructure. This includes core data standards that allow processes to connect to data as opposed to shifting data around the market and coping with multiple transition steps. The prize of getting this right should not be underestimated. Through data standards we can empower the network of the London Market’s highly skilled market participants to engage, react and deliver to capture growth, profitably.”
The open letter to the insurance industry reads as follows:
Dear colleagues and partners in the London specialty insurance market,
Data standards are so simple and yet so often resisted as being ‘complicated’. But it unlocks magic when we all use the same standard. Look at other sectors, like open banking, and imagine what we can do across our industry which is far more interwoven especially at Lloyd’s.
If data is held in a single format, you often don’t need complex and challenging projects to deliver real benefits – local projects have tremendous potential for all parts of the market if we can only align to one data standard.
That means we can all do our jobs better, work faster and deliver massive benefits to clients.
Why now?
Now is the time to take action. All insurers and brokers who wish to take full advantage of a coming digital market will need their data to align to the ACORD GRLC Standard.*
Please make sure your firm is getting on board with the GRLC Standard now. You don’t want to miss the opportunity to be part of a future that will be infinitely more flexible, offer more trading opportunities, paths to new products and a faster way to settled claims.
Data standards are an invisible but essential tool to unlock a better future. Act now to be a part of that future.
Yours sincerely
Bob James, CEO, Velonetic
Caroline Wagstaff, CEO, London Market Group
Chris Croft, CEO, London and International Insurance Brokers’ Association
Chris Jones, CEO, International Underwriting Association
Chris Newman, President International, ACORD
John Mason, CEO, Placing Platform Limited
Patrick Tiernan, CEO, Lloyd’s
Sheila Cameron, CEO, Lloyd’s Market Association
Tim Rayner, CEO, Verisk
*ACORD is the London insurance market’s chosen data standards methodology and the content of the market’s CDR v2 (Core Data Record) aligns to ACORD’s Global Reinsurance and Large Commercial (GRLC) Standard.