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Law360, London (June 9, 2020, 5:27 PM BST) -- Lloyd's of London said Tuesday it has launched an application to improve the flow of business on its electronic placement system, which has become a lifeline for the market since the lockdown halted face-to-face trading.
The specialist insurance market said it has launched an application program interface to make trading via its Placing Platform Limited system much easier.
The trading platform, which was launched in 2016, has become the main source for trading in Lloyd's since March, when the lockdown prompted the closure of the market's underwriting room in Lime Street in the City.
"This is an exciting new development that will enhance and simplify the flow of electronic placement data across the market, as we continue to progress the development of the next generation version of PPL," Jennifer Rigby, chief operations officer at Lloyd's, said.
The app will allow businesses to carry out trades from within their own systems rather than by logging into PPL.
Fitch warned in April about potential disruption from the loss of face-to-face business at Lloyd's after its distinctive four-floor underwriting "room" was closed.
Traditionally, all business at Lloyd's has been done through paper-based slips, in which a wide range of valuable property is insured, from luxury yachts to singer Tom Jones' chest hair (reportedly for $7 million.)
The market introduced an electronic trading system in 2016 as it moved toward modernization. But it has been slow to catch on. Lloyd's has set a goal for 80% of its business to be conducted using the system in the first quarter of the year.
Lloyd's directed insurers and brokers in the market when the pandemic struck to use the PPL platform to place business or do so by email.
The company operating PPL said in April that the system had seen a record number of users. In the last week of March, 5,600 risks were placed within a week, around 2,000 risks higher than the previous weekly record.
--Editing by Alyssa Miller.
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