Bangalore, May 22 (UNI) Infosys Technologies today announced that a comprehensive study on underwriting in the US dollar 222 billion commercial lines insurance industry had revealed that US-based Property and Casualty (P and C) insurers are taking new approaches to risk assessment and acceptance to sustain profitable growth in their business.

The study, commissioned by Infosys and conducted by TowerGroup, was designed to assess the strategic direction and readiness of the commercial underwriting market, from both business and technology perspectives.

The study found that P and C commercial insurance companies were choosing to make the strategic shift towards 'flow' and 'transaction' underwriting to build competitive advantage and gain profitable market shares. Flow underwriting promoted straight through underwriting for risk classes that were previously underwritten through manual, subjective evaluation by underwriters.

The 'low' or 'no touch' transaction approach was supported by automated decision support capabilities so that only exceptions were processed by underwriters. This underwriting approach reduced cost and saved time, and also enabled consistency and controlled underwriting, an Infosys release here said.

Furthermore, the low and no touch underwriting approaches enable underwriters to focus on more complex risk submissions and develop the market through enhanced distributor interactions.

Close to half of the respondents (48 per cent) felt that business process management (BPM) and modernisation of legacy platforms were their main IT priorities. Only 14 per cent of respondents listed IT cost reduction as a priority while nine per cent listed infrastructure consolidation as a top priority.

Nearly 50 per cent of respondents plan to upgrade their organization's capabilities and systems around straight through processing and BPM over the next 18 months, the release said.

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