BI – November 5, 2020 – Reuters) — Lloyd’s of London has dropped ambitious plans to set up its own electronic exchanges and will work with other existing platforms to speed up the underwriting process and cut costs, the commercial insurance market said on Thursday.

Lloyd’s said last year that it planned to launch two electronic exchanges covering simple and complex insurance deals. In February it piloted an electronic exchange for simpler insurance transactions.

The 330-year-old market operates mainly with face-to-face trading and is up against competition from lower-cost rivals, although the COVID-19 pandemic has forced Lloyd’s participants to use more electronic trading and agree deals online.

Lloyd’s no longer plans to launch its own complex risk exchange but will work with existing platforms already used by the market, such as PPL, to improve digitalization. Lloyd’s bought a 40% stake in PPL this year.

“We wanted to execute quickly,” CEO John Neal told Reuters, explaining the change of tack.