Life & Annuity Data Standards

The ACORD L&A Program DTCC EDI Public Specification files provide a traditional EDI (flat file) format for communicating common life insurance information including application, asset pricing, commissions, financial activity, inforce activity, licensing, appointment, positions, and valuations. These formats are the core of the Deposit Trust Clearing Corporation (DTCC) Insurance Processing Services (IPS) offerings.

ACORD has developed utilities that can be used against the schema (.xsd) files to help with implementation. If you have any questions about using the tools, please submit a service request on the ACORD Service Desk.

The following guides and supplements have been developed to provide best practices for supporting interoperability between trading partners. These typically document transaction sequences needed to support an entire business process, with implementation details specific to product types, communities, or other subsets of the full L&A Standard.

These user-friendly, one-page Fact Sheets offer enhanced clarification to support implementations, and serve as a useful reference for any business or technical resource. Each Fact Sheet provides a high-level business overview for a specific transaction or form. 

Within the Knowledge Base, you’ll find answers to frequently asked questions, how-tos and best practices, and a library of L&A resources.

Knowledge Base

ACORD members with access to the L&A XML Standards may access an online version of the L&A XML Business Message Specification Help File on our site. You may utilize this instead of maintaining the Help File (.chm) on your local drive.

Access Online Help Files

The ACORD Standardized Life Insurance Application consists of up to12 forms, identified by their ACORD Form numbers: a three-part Life Application (701 through 703), Supplemental Information (704), Avocation Questionnaires (705 through 710), Agent's Report (765), and Paramedical Examiner's Report (782). To download these ACORD Forms, log on to the ACORD Forms Portal using your acord.org credentials, and search by form number.

Forms Portal

Supplemental information, such as reflexive questions and filing instructions, is also available for download. This information is also accessible as part of the ACORD 701 Form on the ACORD Forms Portal, by selecting the eForms icon and navigating to the “Filing and Implementation Instruction” file.

Download Instructions