Digitalisation, interoperability and connectivity are the key words for the year ahead
London, 04 December 2025: The Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) has today set out its core asks for the market in 2026 around market operations and technology. The association expects to see significant shifts in 2026 in three key areas: technology adoption, data standards and shared connection platforms.
In summary, the LMA predicts:
CDR rollout is a priority
Joe Brace, Operations Director for the Lloyd’s Market Association, addressed priorities for the coming year as follows: “In 2026, the LMA will be focused on ensuring the continued rollout and adoption of the CDR across the vendor ecosystem. The Data Council and its work continue to be central to our market, because, as data solutions proliferate, they can only succeed if they are able to interact and share a common data language. In simple terms, our market has agreed that we will all speak a common tongue, and we need to teach all our digital offspring that language at whatever stage of development they are at. The Data Council will be expanding that common language across the remaining two areas of business (claims and delegated authority) next year, so that by the end of 2026, we have a common way to tag and record every aspect of the life cycle of every risk, which will open the doors to a greater level of data flowing between market participants.”
Smaller projects will deliver quick wins
“Our technology focus in 2026 will be split across several complimentary areas including Blueprint Two, data standards and shared enabling activities. This approach allows us to look at a number of smaller initiatives that we think can deliver quick wins for the market. We encourage all market participants, from suppliers to claims, to begin to look at a modular approach to modernisation, rather than waiting for a single programme to deliver a complete transformation.
“More and more brokers are launching their own placing platforms and we encourage the development of a healthy marketplace in placement and claims. Ideally, all platforms would use the common standards we have agreed and adhere to them – imagine if we interpreted traffic standards differently. The benefits are huge: when we all use the same data standards and flows, we can all connect in multiple ways, unlocking an explosion of peer-to-peer connectivity.
“I am excited to see this market move towards more peer-to peer connections and the organic evolution that is likely to flow from it. Brokers will lead this charge – they drive business flow and while change is never easy, the prize of evolving our business is worth it.”
Operational resilience testing will benefit the market in 2026
On a separate note, 2026 will see the implementation of operational resilience testing programmes, required by the regulator. The LMA is supporting this by putting together a coordinated vendor testing plan that will run across groups of managing agents in the Lloyd’s market. Operational resilience has been a huge investment for the market, with leadership from Lloyd’s and the LMA, and 2026 will mark the first full test cycles.
Joe Brace commented: “It is great to see our market succeed in regulatory and testing delivery. We know that everyone will have to dedicate significant time to the operational resilience testing programme in 2026, but we are in a good position to see it effectively implemented and embedded into our market, ultimately looking after our customers.”
LMA will continue to support and champion the market around Blueprint Two
Finally, in 2026 we hope to see wider modular testing and continued resolution of the challenges in the development of the Blueprint Two project.
Testing continues to be an expected area of focus for the market as we continue to support the development of Blueprint Two solutions, with market input and feedback encouraged into all aspects of the design and implementation work.
Joe Brace said: “The LMA supports Velonetic and Lloyd’s as they look to close out this long-running project. Our plan is to work closely with Velonetic to make sure any data transition is robust and secure, customer impact is thoughtfully handled, investments are aligned to long-term value, adoption timelines are realistic and impacts are thought through for all participants.”
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Notes to Editors
Media relations contacts
LMA:
Carole Porter, Head of Marketing and Communications | +44 020 3307 3922 | Email: carole.porter@lmalloyds.com
Omnia Partners:
Victoria Sisson, Director | +44 794 129 4872 | Email: victoria.sisson@weareomniapartners.com
About the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA)
The Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) exists at the very heart of Lloyd’s, a world-leading global marketplace for complex risk where solutions to challenges are delivered every day. All 55 Lloyd’s managing agencies, with a total market stamp capacity of approximately £56.2bn in 2025, and all Lloyd’s members agents, are members of the LMA.
We represent our members’ interests to organisations including governments, regulators, and the market’s central supporting body, the Corporation of Lloyd’s. We provide professional and technical expertise in areas ranging from model policy wordings to the implementation of innovative technologies. We connect with our members to identify and resolve issues facing the market, and work in partnership with Lloyd’s and the other market associations to influence initiatives and outcomes. We operate the market’s most comprehensive technical education service, the LMA Academy. For more information visit: www.lmalloyds.com.
