October 1 - 3, 2000, The Westin Providence, Providence, R.I.

AgoraRe Builds Marketplace for Life Reinsurance
By Meg Green, Meg.Green@ambest.com

Insurers must prepare for a coming generation of customers who want both a personal touch and instant service through the Internet, said officials from AgoraRe.com.

''The online generation is coming. They don't know what carbon paper is, they don't know what whiteout is,'' said Paul Buckley, electronic commerce manager for AgoraRe.com. ''They expect a human touch and instant response.''

AgoraRe.com, a CNA Life Re subsidiary, hopes to meet that need through its secure online program, that allows direct writers to send individual cases to facultative life reinsurance companies.

Agora is the Greek word for marketplace, said Carol Sullivan, manager of reinsurance administration for AgoraRe.

''Anyone can participate and the playing field is level,'' Sullivan said.

So far, two direct writers and five reinsurers are participating on AgoraRe, which was formally launched in May, Buckley said. Cases range from $250,000 to $1.5 million, he said.

Direct writers have the option of asking for proposals from all the participating reinsurers, or they can pick and choose the participants that receive their cases. Reinsurers then can make an offer to accept the business.

By moving the entire process online, insurers can save time and money, Sullivan said.

She estimated a facultative reinsurer, who handles about 25 cases a week, could save $60,000 annually through the program.

What used to take 20 to 25 minutes of preparation time, followed by waiting for mail to deliver a 50 to 60 page case back-and-forth, now can take four to six minutes by using the Internet, she said.

CNA doesn't expect to dramatically increase the number of facultative reinsurance policies it writes through the service, Buckley said, although AgoraRe is a good public relations tool for the parent company.

Sullivan and Buckley spoke Monday at "E-Fusion: Where Insurance and Technology Converge," a conference sponsored by A.M. Best Co. in Providence, R.I. Full coverage of the event is available online at http://www.ambest.com/e-fusion.html.