JOHNS CREEK, Ga., Aug. 22, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ebix, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBIX), a leading international supplier of On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries announced that the Ebix powered Exchange Platform Placing Ltd. (PPL) has surpassed Q2 electronic placing targets. This pioneering Exchange designed, built, deployed and run by Ebix has the unique distinction of being the only insurance Exchange in the world, that has been accepted as a de-facto standard for powering electronic placement of insurance, for the entire market place in London - the world’s largest insurance market.

More than half of in-scope market risks were placed electronically in the London and Lloyd’s markets during the second quarter, surpassing targets placed on the PPL and other recognized electronic placement systems.

The target for this quarter was to have placed 50% of in scope risks through electronic placement. Lloyd’s syndicates accepted 60.2% of in-scope risks, while members of the London company market, represented by the International Underwriting Association (IUA), accepted an average of 51% of in-scope risks.

“These numbers are a great success for everyone in the market and should give us all tremendous confidence that the London market has genuinely adopted electronic placement,” commented Bronek Masojada, chair of the PPL Board. “We got here through a program of steady and systematic action to change the way the market works.”

Masojada said the next step is to build the same success in submissions as in risks bound. “Our goal is to hit a target of 10% for submissions in Q4 of this year.”

During the third quarter, each syndicate will be required to have written no less than 60% of its risks using a recognized electronic placement system with the target increasing to 70% in Q4.

Much of the electronic risk placement is being handled by the London market’s electronic placing platform, PPL. Some London market business, such as treaty reinsurance, cannot be carried out on the platform. Therefore, its analysis of the extent of electronic placement includes so-called in-scope risks.

“These numbers are encouraging and demonstrate a market-wide commitment to modernize the way we do business at Lloyd’s. We must continue with this momentum as well as look to achieve the same success in submission rates,” said John Neal, Lloyd’s chief executive.

Louise Day, IUA Director of Operations, commented: “The latest quarter shows a significant rise in the use of PPL amongst IUA companies from 32% to 51% of in-scope risks. Some new members have recently taken up e-placement via the platform and have really hit the ground running. The introduction of the broker mandate has also made it more likely that more risks are being presented electronically to our members.”

“There are now well over 100 broking businesses signed up to electronic placement, representing the vast majority of premiums placed in London – and 55% of risks bound are outside the Big Three brokers,” said Christopher Croft, CEO of London & International Insurance Brokers’ Association (LIIBA).

“This performance demonstrates that PPL has developed into a significant asset for the market as a whole. Now we need all market participants to continue to work collectively to ensure that it fulfills its undoubted potential to deliver a simpler, more efficient way for our policyholders to access our products and services,” Croft continued.

“These figures are highly encouraging. It is critical that we build on the momentum that is seeing record numbers of risks being placed on PPL by working together as a market to understand and overcome any obstacles that remain to adopting electronic placing,” said Sheila Cameron, CEO of the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA).

“The question is no longer ‘will the market embrace electronic placing?’ but ‘what does the platform of tomorrow look like?’ It is important to remind ourselves that this is a journey and we will not arrive at the final destination immediately,” Cameron affirmed.

“We must continue to ‘learn as we go’, so that we can continuously improve the platform and achieve the higher volumes that will enable us to fully realize the benefits in terms of the product we offer our clients, today and in the future,” she added.

About Ebix Europe

Ebix Europe is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ebix Inc., (NASDAQ: EBIX) that endeavors to provide On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries. For more information: www.ebix.co.uk

In the Insurance sector, Ebix’s main focus is to develop and deploy a wide variety of insurance and reinsurance exchanges on an on-demand basis, while also, providing Software-as-a-Service ("SaaS") enterprise solutions in the area of CRM, front-end & back-end systems, outsourced administration and risk compliance services, around the world.

With a "Phygital” strategy that combines 320,000 physical distribution outlets in many Southeast Asian Nations (“ASEAN”) countries, to an Omni-channel online digital platform, the Company’s EbixCash Financial exchange portfolio encompasses leadership in areas of domestic & international money remittance, foreign exchange (Forex), travel, pre-paid & gift cards, utility payments, lending, wealth management etc. in India and other markets. EbixCash’s Forex operations have emerged as a leader in India’s airport Foreign Exchange business with operations in 32 international airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata, conducting over $4.8 billion in gross transaction value per year. EbixCash’s inward remittance business in India conducts approx. $6.5 billion gross annual remittance business, confirming its undisputed leadership position in India. EbixCash, through its travel portfolio of Via and Mercury, is also one of Southeast Asia’s leading travel exchanges with over 2,200+ employees, 212,450+ agent network, 25 branches and over 9,800 corporate clients; processing an estimated $2.5 billion in gross merchandise value per year. For further details, visit www.ebixcash.com

Through its various SaaS-based software platforms, Ebix employs thousands of domain-specific technology professionals to provide products, support and consultancy to thousands of customers on six continents. For more information, visit the Company’s website at www.ebix.com

CONTACT:

Darren Joseph
IR@ebix.com or 678 281 2027

David Collins or Chris Eddy
Catalyst Global - 212-924-9800 or ebix@catalyst-ir.com