"This is an important milestone for Insurance Services," said John Ziambras, DTCC managing director and general manager, Insurance Services. "While we have accomplished much in the past 10 years toward creating standardized and automated solutions for insurance processing, we believe the best is yet to come. And as we continue to expand our post-transaction services in the future, we want to ensure we are aligned with our customers' needs and direction so that our services are clearly on target with them."

Identifying needs

The group of 25 executives gathered to discuss the needs of their businesses and how Insurance Services can help them carry out their strategic plans. Close to 20 issues were identified, including DTCC's role in driving straight-through processing (STP) and standardized usage of its services, a critical issue that needs to be addressed soon, according to attendees.

The group also weighed in on the steps required to expand industry adoption of Insurance Services to increase processing efficiencies while lowering costs and operational risks.

"It is clear to us that our members want more rapid adoption of our services and a more collaborative relationship with some of the vendors and service providers that provide a front end to them," Ziambras explained. "Our members also stressed the need for standards to be used more consistently throughout the industry. This is a challenge we are going to tackle immediately, as it's an important element in the industry's drive toward STP," Ziambras noted. "Our collaboration with NAVA and ACORD clearly will be key in our efforts to make this happen."

Other discussion points covered the opportunities for carriers to grow their bank and independent broker/dealer distribution channels through DTCC's centralized portal, and expanding services to support the needs of the millions of baby boomers looking for new income-generating products to fund their retirement years.

Establishing priorities

Insurance Services distributed a summary report to attendees in June and asked them to identify the top three to five topics that represent the highest priority to their firms. Going forward, the board will meet regularly to focus on these issues and work with DTCC on creating action steps and timelines for resolution. @