Background
A consortium is a contractual arrangement under which one or more managing agents delegate authority under the terms of a binding authority agreement to another managing agent (the Consortium Leader) to enter into contracts of insurance on their behalf.
The main difference between a consortium and a line slip is that a consortium is set up by insurers and a line slip is set up by a broker. In practice, authority is given to a consortium leader by followers to apply a single stamp that binds all consortium members, and to lead on any claims relating to the risk. Consortia allows Lloyd’s syndicates to pool capacity and present a single front of large capacity to brokers and clients.
It's also an effective solution for brokers to place emerging, unique and ‘hard to place’ risks. Once the terms of a consortium have been negotiated, the consortium will have to register with Velonetic if it requires support with premium and claims processing through Velonetic.
Consortia has been growing year on year with registrations increasing from 251 in 2018 to 1,165 in 2024, an increase of around 460%.
Supporting consortia for the London market
Velonetic will continue to support consortia transactions as part of Blueprint Two, phase one.
If registered with Velonetic, the 9000/7000/4000 number will continue to be used to enable premium to flow to all participating syndicates in their pre-agreed shares through IPOS. Claims for the consortia will be managed through ICOS. The new Digital Processing Services will maintain efficiency and ease of processing to all consortium members.
Where a broker places a risk with consortia and company market carrier(s) on the same risk, the company market element will still be processed separately as it is today.
Consortia messages
Consortia uses the same EDI messages for premium and accounting transactions and claims transactions that are used for open market risks. On this basis, supported EDI messages will continue to be provided from the Digital Processing Services for Consortia as part of Blueprint Two, phase one.
Get adoption ready
Blueprint Two will be delivered in two phases. At phase one cutover, all market firms must adopt the new digital services.