CSIO’s INNOTECH Committee and API Working Groups Finalize Real-Time Quote and Bind Capabilities for Four Lines of Business by Publishing JSON API Standards

(Toronto – March 31, 2023) – CSIO is pleased to announce that the Innovation and Emerging Technology (INNOTECH) Advisory Committee and Application Programming Interface (API) Working Groups published API Standards in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) that facilitate real-time quote and bind capabilities. Insurers and vendors programming the Standards into their systems enable brokers to quote and bind personal automobile, habitational, Individually Rated Commercial Automobile (IRCA) and Commercial General Liability (CGL) lines of business directly in their broker management system (BMS).

The INNOTECH Advisory Committee and its Working Groups elected to build the programmable schemas for the API Standard using JSON, as it is the latest, state-of-the-art technology that allows condensed sets of data to move between systems more efficiently than ever before. Without an industry Standard, brokers must resort to directly entering information into individual insurers’ systems to obtain their quotes, resulting in a quoting process that can take hours. If insurers and vendors program the JSON API schemas into their systems, brokers are able to simultaneously receive quotes from all their insurer partners as soon as the request is submitted and bind new business directly from their BMS in real-time. The end result is a more efficient broker process and an improved experience for insurance customers.  

“Increasing connectivity between brokers and insurers is an essential way we can give people and businesses great service, while helping the broker channel thrive,” said Graham Haigh, SVP & Chief Operating Officer – West, The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company. “I commend the INNOTECH Advisory Committee and its Working Groups for creating APIs that are capable of taking broker connectivity to an even higher level.”

“The industry’s ability to come together on a unified approach for quote and bind is not only having an immediate positive impact in the form of CSIO’s latest JSON API Standards release, it has also laid the foundation for future API use case development that will further enhance the Property and Casualty (P&C) insurance value offering,” said Steve Whitelaw, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Applied Systems Canada.

CSIO’s insurer and vendor members are invited to download the JSON API Standards and program the schemas into their systems to enable real-time quote and bind capabilities for their broker partners.

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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, and eSignatures. In addition, CSIO operates the industry-owned mail network service. The CSIO XML Standard is licensed to CSIO by ACORD (Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development). For more information, visit csio.com.

For further information, please contact:

Debbie Vassos, BBA, CDMP | Manager, Marketing & Communications
110 Yonge Street, Suite 500 | Toronto, ON M5C 1T4
(416) 360-1773 x 1721 | 1 (800) 463-2746 x 1721
dvassos@csio.com | www.csio.com