The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) announced today it will partner with ACORD on its annual conference this May. The conference brings together more than 1,500 attendees from all sectors of the insurance community including insurance carriers, broker/dealers, banks, financial planners and others.
“The ACORD conference is one of the pre-eminent technology conferences in the industry,” said J. Randall Grespin, managing director, DTCC Distribution Services. “By working together, DTCC and ACORD can lead the industry effort toward standardization and automation and help mainstream the sale and distribution of annuities and life insurance products.”
ACORD is the US insurance industry’s technology standards organization. DTCC, through its Insurance Services group, provides an industry infrastructure that automates, centralizes and electronically links insurance carriers with broker/dealers, banks and financial planners for the exchange of information and money settlement during the sale and support of variable and fixed-rate annuities and life insurance products.
DTCC Insurance Services currently links 47 insurance carriers, representing 106 subsidiaries, with more than 100 distributors and 17 service bureaus, providing them with an array of insurance services such as Annuity Applications, Financial Activity Reporting, Commissions, Positions, and Licensing & Appointments.
“We understand the critical role that technology standards play in the insurance industry and this is why we are so supportive of ACORD and why we are partnering with them on this conference,” says Grespin.
“Over the past 10 years, the ACORD Annual Conference has served as an effective forum for carrying the message of standards to a large segment of the insurance industry,” said Gregory Maciag, president and CEO, ACORD. “As the role of standards grows, driving their implementation amongst all the participants in the insurance value chain becomes even more important and therefore reaching a broader audience is essential. DTCC represents a key distribution network. We are very pleased they have decided to join us in driving home the message of data standards by partnering on our conference.”
The conference partnership by DTCC is just one facet of a new relationship between the two organizations. Together, ACORD and DTCC have worked on a variety of projects, including a new Product Profile data standard developed by ACORD that will be used in DTCC’s new automated, central repository for annuity product information. The repository will enable distributors to access accurate and complete annuity product information and specifications, providing them with information needed to help ensure that annuity applications are complete and correct when submitted to the insurance carrier. Distributors and carriers will access the repository through a single connection whether it is direct to DTCC or through a service provider or vendor. This benefits the industry at large, eliminating the need to develop and maintain multiple proprietary links.
The ACORD Annual Conference offers more than 65 seminars, more than 120 exhibitors, global representation and discussions on the latest insurance business and technology issues including standards and their role in an overall business strategy. It is scheduled to run from May 18 to May 20, 2003, in Orlando, Fla., at the Dolphin Resort in Walt Disney World. DTCC will hold its User Group Seminar on Saturday, May 17, as part of the conference.
ACORD – the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development – is a global, non-profit insurance association whose mission is to facilitate the development and use of standards for the insurance, reinsurance and related financial services industries. With offices in the United Kingdom and the United States, ACORD styles itself an objective, independent advocate for sharing information among diverse platforms.