AIR Worldwide Corporation has announced it is supporting the newACORD binding authority exposure data standard (ER3001) in itscatastrophe modeling software. ACORD, a global standardsdevelopment organization serving the insurance industry, is seekingto facilitate the development of open data standards and standardforms.

Binding authority agreements give managing general agents theauthority to write business on behalf of Lloyd's syndicates.Lloyd's encourages U.S. property underwriters and brokers to usethe ACORD standard property reporting template when reportinginformation regarding the risks that have been bound. Bystandardizing the reporting format, it will help remove the need tospend time and money cleansing and reformatting information.

"ACORD standards make it easier to keep Lloyd's underwritersup-to-date with details of the risks they have written," says RoyLaker, vice president, ACORD London office. "We commend AIR for itssupport of this data format as it serves as a common communicationmethod for use by multiple parties, thereby increasing theefficiency of the entire industry."

Exposure data in the ACORD format can be imported in version11.0 of AIR's CLASIC/2 and CATStation catastrophe modelingapplications using AIR ImportExpress. "AIR continues to be a strongproponent of open data formats to enable the smooth transfer ofcatastrophe exposure data for risk analysis," says Ming Lee,president and CEO of AIR Worldwide.