June 2003

Acturis confirms major commitment to imarket initiative

Leading Broker Software House Acturis Limited today announced their plans to partner with Polaris on the imarket industry initiative.

imarket is the general insurance industry electronic trading portal linking insurers and intermediaries. It is backed by six insurers: Allianz Cornhill, AXA, Groupama, Norwich Union, Royal & Sun Alliance and Zurich Financial Services. Many of these insurers have already committed to, or are in discussions with Acturis, regarding commercial lines electronic trading developments.

AXA Head of Broker Development, Polaris Director and Chair of the imarket insurer steering group Colin Calder commented 'AXA have been working closely with Acturis on our AXA Business Risk offering. There is a very good fit between the Acturis business and technology models and those of imarket. This announcement is excellent news for insurers and Acturis brokers'.

Polaris Marketing and Strategy Manager Philip Nunn added 'We are pleased to make this joint announcement with Acturis. The value of imarket is increased considerably as a result of software house participation as it offers the opportunity of seamless integration between broker and insurer systems'.

Acturis plan to initially offer a click-thru facility from their system making access to the imarket site easier. They already use Polaris standards having been a proactive contributor to their development. Joint CEO Theo Duchen said 'Acturis have a long-established relationship with Polaris and its insurers. We believe imarket will add value to brokers and insurers. We already have, and continue to help lead thinking and make a positive contribution to the development of imarket.'

Philip Nunn added, 'We particularly welcome Acturis’ detailed proposals on deeper imarket integration, such as making direct calls to imarket insurer services from the Acturis system. This is only the start, we hope to make progress on deeper integration in the very near future'.

- Ends -

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