Inex24 yet to convince DVS president with key players not on board

Inex24 will allow industrial companies to invite bids for risks on an online platform and bargain with insurers and brokers about prices and conditions. It will start on July 1. The new system should facilitate buying insurance cover and offer more choice in terms of the number of bids from insurers. Risk managers hope that it will help keep the prices at the current low level or even reduce rates further. Furthermore, the system promises to make the process of buying insurance more transparent and avoid breaches of compliance rules. To use Inex24 participants have to pay an annual fee, depending on their volume. “I wish Inex24 all the best to succeed. The more transparency one has in the tender process the better it is,” said Mr Greimel. However, in the current form Inex24 is not very attractive, at least not for E.ON, he adds. The number of insurers cooperating with Inex24 is still limited. On the insurance side, Talanx subsidiary HDI-Gerling Industrie is on board as well as Axa, Zurich, Gothaer and broker Aon. Inex24 is also in talks with Allianz.hide“One needs a whole bunch of insurers to achieve transparency in the market,” said Mr Greimel. “If there are only five or ten insurers on Inex24, then we are not very interested.” He misses in particular insurers from the London market and Italian companies, with whom he does not have much contact. He does not need Inex24 to communicate with HDI-Gerling or Allianz. “We have our own tools which allow insurers to access risk information online for bidding purposes,” he said. “The package ‘as a whole’ Inex24 is offering is not very interesting for us in the short term, although we might like to use individual parts such as the possibility of comparing wordings online,” said Mr Greimel. Altogether, he does not think that Inex24 is the most significant issue in industrial insurance. “For us, there are other topics which are currently more important,” he said. Like other market players, Mr Greimel has concerns about the data security of Inex24. “The question arises whether the risk information stays with us as ‘owner’ or disappears somewhere into outer space? This still has to be clarified,” he said. Other risk managers take a different view. Among the venture's founders is Ralf Oelßner, one of the most respected risk managers in the German industry. Before retiring he had been Lufthansa’s head of insurance and head of DVS. And in Siemens Financial Services the platform has found a new and important supporter. The company has agreed to cooperate with the project, said Christian Marchsreiter, board member of Inex24, this week. Apart from Siemens, ThyssenKrupp, Tchibo and Bosch also want to place risks on Inex24. The deal with Siemens is of considerable importance since the company has its own electronic bidding platform. The fact that it is cooperating with Inex24 is seen to vouch for the quality for the new system. “Whether or not Inex24 becomes important depends on whether the clients accept it,” said Christian Hinsch, chief executive of HDI-Gerling Industrie. He is keen to remain neutral on the topic. “There are both vehement supporters and vehement opponents of Inex24. We do not want to take sides,” he said. “We only accompany Inex24 so we can introduce the view of an industrial insurer, but it is not our duty to help the project fly.” Inex24 is not the first attempt to introduce an electronic bidding platform. Most of its forerunners failed like the Inreon system of Munich Re, Swiss Re and Accenture. But Felix Hufeld, head of Inex24’s supervisory board, is optimistic. The former head of the German division of broker Marsh is, like Mr Oelßner, a co-founder of Inex24. He says Inex24 will not make the same mistake as its forerunners in demanding too much from the platform. Also the relevant technology is now more advanced, he added. Mr Hufeld expects Inex24 to break even in 2013.

Inex24 yet to convince DVS president with key players not on board

Want to read this article?

Read Next

Premium increase moderation in US commercial P/C market continues

Berkshire Hathaway discloses minority $6.72bn stake in Chubb

Alternative solutions and specialty drive Scor’s Q1 growth

US commercial lines sector combined ratio increased to 96.2% in 2023

New head of US cyber at Beazley

Premium increase moderation in US commercial P/C market continues

Berkshire Hathaway discloses minority $6.72bn stake in Chubb

Alternative solutions and specialty drive Scor’s Q1 growth

US commercial lines sector combined ratio increased to 96.2% in 2023

New head of US cyber at Beazley

Want to read this article?

Read Next

Premium increase moderation in US commercial P/C market continues

Berkshire Hathaway discloses minority $6.72bn stake in Chubb

Alternative solutions and specialty drive Scor’s Q1 growth

US commercial lines sector combined ratio increased to 96.2% in 2023

New head of US cyber at Beazley

Related Articles