CSIO’s INNOTECH API Business Requirements Working Group Makes Significant Progress in Standardizing Industry APIs

May 20, 2021 |

(Toronto – May 20, 2021) – CSIO is pleased to announce that the INNOTECH API Business Requirements Working Group made significant progress in advancing industry APIs by defining business requirements at its May 19 meeting.  A cross section of brokers, vendors and insurers participated in the virtual session, and included representatives from Aviva Canada, Economical Insurance, Intact Insurance, Northbridge Insurance, RSA Canada, Travelers Canada, Wawanesa Insurance, Dawson & Keenan Insurance Ltd, Ives Insurance Brokers Limited, Marsh Canada Limited, NFP Canada, Toole Peet Insurance, Acturis Limited, Applied Systems Inc., Brokercore and Vertafore Canada.

Formed to capture brokers’ operational needs, the Working Group’s goal is to define business requirements for personal automobile insurance use cases, identified by the INNOTECH Advisory Committee and reviewed by insurers, that will be applied to develop industry APIs. Once programmed, these APIs will be used by brokers to retrieve information for specific use cases in real-time from the insurer’s system to their BMS.

The industry came together at this meeting to define the business requirements for personal automobile inquiry, and obtain input from brokers, insurers and vendors. These requirements will then be shared with the INNOTECH Standards Working Group to develop and publish the API standards leveraging CSIO Data Standards.

“It’s great to have the opportunity to bring the brokers’ perspective to the table and work with industry partners to develop a digital solution that will allow us to work more effectively so we have more time to focus on the client relationship”, says Nancy Barac, SVP Personal Lines Service & Strategy, NFP Canada. “We had a very productive session and I look forward to continuing the momentum to cover the requirements for additional use cases.”

“As an INNOTECH Advisory Committee member, it’s exciting to see the progress we’ve made addressing industry pain points,” said Dennis Dalmas, Senior Vice President, Solutions Delivery at Northbridge Financial. “Standardizing APIs will facilitate data exchange and enable brokers to improve the overall digital experience for customers while also improving their own brokerage efficiencies.”

For more information on the INNOTECH initiatives, please visit the INNOTECH webpage.

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About Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO)

CSIO is Canada’s industry technology association of property and casualty insurers, service providers and over 38,000 brokers. CSIO is committed to improving the consumer’s ease of doing business within the broker channel by overseeing the development, implementation and maintenance of technology standards and solutions such as eDocs, My Proof of Insurance eDelivery, and eSignatures. In addition, CSIO operates CSIOnet, a secure, industry-owned platform for the efficient exchange of policy information for the broker channel. The CSIO XML Standard is licensed to CSIO by ACORD (Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development).

CSIO maintains offices in Toronto and Montreal. For more information, visit www.csio.com.

For further information, please contact:

Sarina Visram, MBA, CIP | Director, Member Relations & Communications
110 Yonge Street, Suite 500 | Toronto, ON M5C 1T4
(416) 360-1773 x 2300 | 1 (800) 463-2746 x 2300
svisram@csio.com | www.csio.com

About NFP Canada

NFP Canada is a leading insurance broker and consultant providing specialized business and personal insurance, group benefits, retirement and individual solutions through its licensed subsidiaries and affiliates. NFP enables client success through the expertise of over 750 employees based in Canada, more than 5,700 employees globally, investments in innovative technologies, and enduring relationships with highly rated insurers, vendors and financial institutions. NFP is the 5th largest benefits broker by global revenue (Business Insurance), 10th largest property and casualty agency (Insurance Journal) and 12th largest global insurance broker (Best’s Review).

About Northbridge Financial Corporation

Northbridge Financial Corporation is a leading commercial property and casualty insurance company that has helped protect Canadian businesses for more than 100 years. We offer a wide range of innovative solutions to Canadian businesses through our Northbridge Insurance, Federated Insurance, and TruShield Insurance brands. We are proud to be a 100% Canadian company, wholly-owned by Fairfax Financial Holdings.