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Acturis pilot kicks off

08 February 2002

Acturis, the online broker system for commercial lines intermediaries, will be piloted in brokers' offices from mid-April and go live in its development with them by the end of summer.

Bland Bankart will be the first broker to pilot and go live with the system, with Smart and Cook, The Beckett Group, and Layton Blackham following hot on its heels. It will offer brokers a backoffice system and the ability to trade online with the major and second-tier insurers already on board.

Philip Bland, chairman of Bland Bankart and a director of Acturis, said: "We should go live in early summer and the other development brokers will follow suit very quickly afterwards".

He continued: "The four brokers want to encourage insurers to be as forward thinking as possible at adopting Acturis into their systems. We want insurers to start thinking they must do business the way that the brokers want and to realise that if they do not do so, we could take the business elsewhere".

Mr Bland, whose company is a member of Unitas, said he had recommended that other members of the broker network 'throw their hat in' with Acturis.

He said: "I hope the Unitas brokers get on board too but it is too early to say what they will do at this stage. My advice to brokers is to sit on the sidelines for the moment. Lots of the existing suppliers are trying to get brokers to update their systems and lots of new entrants are trying to sign brokers up".

"By autumn, Acturis should be live in several brokers' offices and other brokers will be able to have a look and decide what they want to do".

Professional Broking


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