Commercial lines underwriters spend 12 hours processing a single submission because ACORD applications, schedules, and loss runs arrive as 200-page PDFs

Document Complexity: 50-200 Page Submissions

Personal lines submissions are simple: homeowners application is 4 pages, auto application is 6 pages. Commercial submissions are massive: ACORD 125 (10 pages), ACORD 140 for property (15 pages), schedule of values (50-100 locations with building characteristics, fire protection, construction type), 5 years of loss runs from 2-3 prior carriers (30+ pages), financial statements (10-20 pages), safety programs and training documentation (20+ pages), and certificates of insurance for evidence of current coverage.

A manufacturing company with 15 locations requesting GL, property, auto, umbrella, and workers comp generates a 180-page submission package. Underwriters manually read every page, extract key data points (exposure units, building values, payroll by class code, fleet size, claims history), and re-key into rating systems.

This manual extraction takes 8-12 hours for complex accounts. An underwriter processing 3-4 new submissions weekly spends 30-40 hours on data extraction alone — before any actual underwriting analysis happens.

Regure automates document processing for commercial submissions: ACORD forms auto-extract to structured data (business type, locations, exposures, prior coverage), schedules of values parse into location-level detail (address, building value, contents value, construction type, protection class), loss runs extract by year and line of business with claim counts and incurred amounts, and financial statements extract revenue, assets, and profitability metrics. Extraction accuracy is 96% on standard ACORD forms, 92% on schedules of values, and 89% on loss runs (which vary significantly by carrier format).

Multi-Line Policy Complexity

Personal lines are single-coverage: auto or homeowners. Commercial accounts bundle multiple coverage lines: a manufacturing company buys commercial property (buildings + contents + business interruption), commercial auto (fleet of vehicles), general liability (premises + products + completed operations), umbrella (excess liability), and workers compensation (employee injuries). Each line requires separate underwriting, but they're interdependent.

Property values affect umbrella pricing. Auto fleet size affects GL exposure. Workers comp payroll affects overall account profitability. Loss history on one line influences pricing on others. Underwriters must analyze each line individually while considering total account profitability and cross-line risk correlation.

This multi-line complexity creates coordination challenges: property underwriter needs loss control inspection report, but loss control hasn't scheduled visit yet. GL underwriter approved coverage, but property underwriter declined — does the entire account fall through? Auto underwriter needs fleet safety program documentation, but broker hasn't provided it yet.

Regure provides multi-line workflow coordination: submission intake identifies all requested coverage lines and creates parallel workflows per line, cross-line dependencies track completion status (can't finalize umbrella pricing until GL and auto are rated), and document requirements checklist shows which documents are still needed per line. Underwriters see entire account status at a glance instead of tracking separate files per line.

Large Account Multi-Department Coordination

Commercial accounts involve multiple departments: underwriting assesses risk and prices coverage, loss control inspects properties and reviews safety programs, claims reviews loss runs and reserves, finance reviews broker commissions and payment terms, and legal reviews manuscript endorsements and coverage modifications.

Coordinating these departments via email creates delays. Underwriter needs loss control inspection before binding coverage, but loss control is backlogged 3 weeks. Claims department flags concerning loss history, but underwriter doesn't see the flag until after quote issued. Finance rejects broker fee arrangement, requiring re-quote, but underwriter already sent quote to broker.

These coordination failures add 5-10 days to submission processing time and create rework. A submission that should process in 5 business days takes 15 business days because departments aren't synchronized.

Regure provides cross-department workflows: loss control inspection requests auto-generate when property submissions arrive (with property addresses and building characteristics pre-filled), claims department reviews loss runs and flags concerning patterns (frequency trends, large losses, liability patterns) visible to underwriters before quoting, and finance approval workflows route broker fee arrangements for approval before quotes finalize. All departments work in parallel on the same submission instead of sequential handoffs. See multi-office workflow examples.

Carrier Reporting & Bordereaux Requirements

MGAs and program administrators writing commercial business on behalf of carriers must provide detailed reporting: monthly bordereaux (policy-level detail with premiums, exposures, claims), loss runs, reserve updates, and commission calculations. Carriers require this data in specific formats (Excel templates with 20+ columns).

Creating bordereaux manually is tedious: export policy data from management system, manipulate in Excel to match carrier template format, calculate aggregated exposures and premiums, reconcile commission calculations, and submit by deadline (usually 15th of following month). For MGAs writing for 5+ carriers, this monthly reporting consumes 40+ hours.

Regure automates bordereaux generation: policy data auto-exports in carrier-required formats, exposure aggregations calculate automatically (e.g., total insured values by state, total payroll by class code), premium and commission reconciliations match against carrier statements, and reports submit via SFTP or email on scheduled dates. MGAs using Regure reduce monthly carrier reporting time from 40 hours to 6 hours (mostly validation and review). Learn more about MGA-specific automation and US MGA operations.

1. ACORD Forms Intelligence

ACORD forms (125, 126, 127, 130, 140, etc.) are insurance industry standard applications. But they're still completed by hand, scanned, or filled as PDFs with inconsistent formatting. Field locations vary across form versions, checkboxes are unclear, and handwritten entries are common.

Regure's ACORD processing is trained on 500,000+ ACORD forms across all versions and variations. The system recognizes form types automatically, extracts data from correct field locations regardless of form version, interprets checkboxes and handwritten entries with 94% accuracy, and validates extracted data against business rules (ZIP codes are valid, NAIC numbers are 5 digits, prior carrier names match NAIC database).

Extracted data auto-populates rating systems via API integration: business classification codes, location addresses, building characteristics, prior coverage limits, and loss history. This eliminates manual re-keying and reduces data entry errors from 8-10% (manual) to under 2% (automated with validation).

2. Schedule of Values Processing

Multi-location commercial property accounts require schedules of values listing every insured location with detailed characteristics: street address, building age, construction type (frame/masonry/fire-resistive), occupancy, fire protection class, square footage, building value, contents value, and business interruption exposure.

These schedules arrive as Excel files (50-100 rows) or PDFs (scanned from broker systems). Underwriters must extract each location's data and enter into rating systems for individual location rating and total insured value aggregation.

Regure processes schedules of values automatically: Excel files parse directly with column mapping (handles variations in column order and naming), PDF schedules OCR-extract to structured tables, addresses geocode for territory rating, construction types and protection classes validate against ISO standards, and building/contents values aggregate for total insured value calculations.

Processed schedules export to rating systems via API or Excel templates. Underwriters review aggregated summaries (100 locations, $50M total insured value, average protection class 4) instead of processing each location individually. Location-level detail is available for drill-down when needed.

3. Multi-Carrier Loss Run Normalization

Commercial submissions include 5 years of loss runs from prior carriers. But there's no standard loss run format: Travelers uses one template, Liberty Mutual another, Hartford a third. Some show claims by accident year, others by policy year. Some include reserves, others only paid amounts. Some separate by line of business, others combine all lines.

Underwriters spend hours normalizing loss run data for apples-to-apples comparison: extracting claim counts and incurred amounts by year, calculating loss ratios, identifying large losses over $25K, and trending frequency and severity.

Regure normalizes multi-carrier loss runs automatically: OCR extracts data from PDF loss runs regardless of carrier format, classifies by accident year and line of business, separates paid vs. reserved amounts, identifies large losses, calculates loss ratios, and presents unified loss history across all prior carriers in standardized format.

Underwriters review normalized summaries: "5-year loss history across 3 carriers: 47 claims, $420K incurred, 68% loss ratio. Frequency trend increasing (6 claims 2020 → 14 claims 2024). Two large losses: $85K workers comp 2023, $62K auto 2024." This analysis happens automatically instead of requiring 2+ hours of manual spreadsheet work.

4. Multi-Line Submission Orchestration

Commercial submissions request coverage across multiple lines: property, GL, auto, umbrella, workers comp. Each line requires separate underwriting, but they must coordinate. Property can't bind without loss control inspection approval. Umbrella can't quote until underlying GL and auto limits are confirmed. Workers comp needs payroll audits finalized.

Managing these dependencies via email and spreadsheets creates delays and errors. Underwriters don't know if other lines are approved, declined, or pending. Quotes go out with inconsistent effective dates. Coverage binds on one line while other lines are still being underwritten.

Regure orchestrates multi-line workflows: submission intake identifies all requested coverage lines and creates parallel underwriting workflows, dependency tracking shows which lines are complete/pending/declined, cross-line approvals require all lines to reach decision before binding (optional configuration), and unified quote packages combine all lines with consistent terms, limits, and effective dates.

Underwriters see account-level dashboards: "Property: approved $8,500 premium. GL: approved $12,400 premium. Auto: pending fleet inspection. Umbrella: pending GL/Auto approval. Workers Comp: approved $18,900 premium. Total account premium: $40K+ (pending auto/umbrella)." This visibility prevents coordination failures and ensures all stakeholders know account status.

5. Cross-Department Workflow Automation

Commercial underwriting requires input from multiple departments: loss control inspects properties and reviews safety programs, claims reviews loss history and reserves adequacy, finance approves broker fee arrangements and payment plans, and legal reviews manuscript endorsements and coverage modifications.

Traditional workflows are sequential handoffs creating delays: underwriter sends inspection request to loss control (2 days to assign inspector), inspector schedules visit (1 week wait for appointment), inspection happens (1 day), inspector writes report (3 days), report routes back to underwriter (1 day). Total time: 2+ weeks for a task that requires 4 hours of actual work.

Regure enables parallel workflows: inspection requests auto-generate when property submissions arrive with building addresses and characteristics pre-filled, claims department reviews loss runs upon submission intake and flags concerns visible to underwriters immediately, finance approval workflows run parallel to underwriting (not sequential), and all departments work simultaneously on the same submission.

This parallelization reduces submission processing time from 15 business days (sequential) to 5 business days (parallel) for complex large accounts. Speed matters: commercial insurance is competitive and fast quotes win business.

6. Automated Bordereaux & Carrier Reporting

MGAs and program administrators writing on behalf of carriers must provide monthly bordereaux: policy-level detail (insured name, effective date, expiration date, premium, exposure units, coverage limits), aggregated exposures by state/class/coverage, loss runs with claims detail, and commission reconciliations.

Carriers require data in specific formats (Excel templates with 20+ columns in exact order). Creating bordereaux manually involves: exporting policy data from management system, manipulating in Excel to match carrier template, calculating aggregations, reconciling commissions, and submitting by deadline (typically 15th of following month).

For MGAs writing for 5+ carriers, monthly reporting consumes 40+ hours: 8 hours per carrier × 5 carriers. This administrative burden diverts resources from underwriting and business development.

Regure automates bordereaux generation: policy data auto-exports in carrier-required formats (Excel templates pre-configured per carrier), exposure aggregations calculate automatically, premium/commission reconciliations match against carrier statements to flag discrepancies, and reports submit via SFTP, email, or carrier portals on scheduled dates.

MGAs reduce monthly carrier reporting from 40 hours to 6 hours (review and validation only). This automation ROI is immediate and measurable. Learn more about MGA automation.