Liverpool Victoria signs £26m deal with EDS

Financial services company Liverpool Victoria is boosting its online application capabilities through a £26m deal with EDS.

The deal is an extension to the existing life administration contract the insurer has signed with EDS and will run until 2017.

The system to be developed for Liverpool Victoria will allow it to give its independent financial advisors a flexible electronic process for submitting life protection applications which will replace the existing manual processes.

This will mean faster acceptance of applications - immediate in many cases.

Where additional medical history information is needed this can be obtained through a telephone interview. The system will prompt the interviewer so that the correct information is collected.

EDS said that by automating these processes, Liverpool Victoria will experience "significant reductions" in operational costs.

Kevin Durkan, Liverpool Victoria's group director of operations, said in a statement: "These additional capabilities will strengthen Liverpool Victoria's position in the life protection market and will pave the way for substantial operational efficiencies and improved customer service."

EDS will deliver these services in partnership with underwriting automation company Allfinanz. Straight through processing capabilities will be provided by integrating Allfinanz's xpertBridge e-software suite with Solcorp's Ingenium life administration platform and their quotation engine, ProductXpress.

Sam Kingston, EDS commercial sector vice president and managing director, said in a statement: "We are proud to have been selected by Liverpool Victoria to develop and deliver these capabilities."