Networked in California Joins LexisNexis Exchange

Grass Valley, Calif.-based Networked Insurance Agents has signed on with LexisNexis Risk Solutions Insurance Exchange, a significant step for LexisNexis into the West, the collaborative insurance placement platform said.

Networked Insurance Agents has roughly1,200 small- to mid-sized independent member agencies. Networked joined the LexisNexis to help the organization manage and maximize its mid-market commercial business submissions to its carrier partners, according to the companies.

The LexisNexis Insurance Exchange is a business and renewal submission placement platform that enhances the flow of application data between insurance carriers, agents and brokers.

LexisNexis Insurance Exchange simplifies the submission of small and mid-sized risks by agents and brokers to multiple markets. Agents and brokers need only enter account information once. The system lets carriers and wholesalers not only respond to submissions but also make producers aware of their current appetite for certain kinds of business.

This exchange is the result of an alliance formed through LexisNexis Risk Solutions, The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers and Marketcore Inc.

“Our business plan is to continually add customers, brokers and carriers,” said Clyde Owen, general manager of LexisNexis Insurance Exchange. “Networked Insurance Agents is a very large and successful association of brokers. This got us a very good customer. It brought us many relationships with agencies on the West Coast cost. We don’t have a lot of presence on the West Coast, so this really helps us to begin to establish ourselves.”

LexisNexis, launched just over a year ago, has over 70 brokerages signed up. “Most of our business is in Southeast to Northeast,” Owen said. “We’re clearly looking for some sort of national capability.”

Networked is so far the only cluster that has become a member of LexisNexis’ Insurance Exchange, according to Owen.

“We see the LexisNexis Insurance Exchange as an exciting new distribution channel through which we can help our members grow their businesses and better serve the insurance needs of their customers,” Rick Quagliaroli, president and CEO of Networked Insurance Agents, said.

Owen said LexisNexis’ goal is to “ultimately do business with all off the agencies in the commercial space.” LexisNexis so far has not delved into personal lines, he said, adding, “we’re going to do personal lines in the fullness of time, we’re just not there yet.”

LexisNexis’ Insurance Exchange, based on cost per user, which consists of a sliding scale rewarding those with more users, operates in a cloud, and members get identifications and passwords, though depending on whether you’re a broker or carrier, you will get a different view of the system.

Owen declined to say how much the scale varies or talk prices.

He described the system as a go-between geared to better connect agents and carriers.

“It sits between the agents and the carriers and attempts to pull the two parties together,” he said.

Noting that many large firms, such as Willis, have come out with exchanges, Owen said LexisNexis’ Insurance Exchange provides a foot up for those not attached to some of the bigger names in the industry.

“This is a way for brokers of any size to have modern, competitive tools,” he said. “Everybody can’t be Willis, or Aon or Marsh.”

The LexisNexis Insurance Exchange is a collaborative insurance placement platform designed to improve the flow of application data and documents between agents, brokers, wholesalers and carriers.

LexisNexis Risk Solutions is part of Reed Elsevier, a leading publisher and information provider that serves customers in more than 100 countries with more than 30,000 employees worldwide.