Technology company Ebix Australia has been refused entry to the Steadfast Convention beginning in Melbourne tomorrow after negotiations on a systems interface collapsed.

Talks between Ebix and Steadfast on the construction of an interface between Ebix-owned broker IT systems and the Steadfast Virtual Underwriter (SVU) platform broke down several weeks ago.

Ebix Australia MD Leon d’Apice told insuranceNEWS.com.au that Steadfast managers rejected a proposal related to the design of the interface and the commercial terms for its operation.

“They rejected the proposal without negotiation and they haven’t responded to our requests that they tell us exactly what it is that they do want.”

But Steadfast CEO Robert Kelly says the disagreement is purely about money. “Ebix wants to charge a transaction fee for the only other transaction platform in the market, and the amount of that fee is ridiculously high,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “They also own the major broker systems.

“It’s been four year of negotiating and being unable to do a deal. The price they want is completely uneconomic.”

Mr d’Apice says Steadfast told him it was withdrawing the invitation to attend this year’s convention “based on the fact that the current negotiations aren’t resolved”.

“How can they be resolved? They’ve offered us no alternative course of action.”

Mr Kelly says Steadfast wants to negotiate, but does not believe Ebix should expect to charge a large amount of money on transactions going through Steadfast’s own platform.

“We built the SVU to facilitate transactions, not make a huge amount of money from it,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “It’s intended to not cost brokers or insurers any money to use.”

In a note sent last night to Steadfast members who use the Ebix-owned CBS, eGlobal or WinBEAT broker systems and the Sunrise Exchange transaction platform, Mr d’Apice says Ebix “has been working with Steadfast to ensure that the technical requirements of the interface were appropriately addressed, and in parallel have been negotiating commercial terms for the interface that are acceptable to both parties”.

“The latter remains unresolved and was the reason offered for withdrawing our invitation on Tuesday this week.”

He says the requirment to support an SVU interface for the broker systems “will be significant software development projects”.

“Work on the interface is on hold pending resolution of a commercial model. However, we remain committed to developing solutions that improve productivity and efficiency.”

It’s the second consecutive year that Ebix has been excluded for the convention. Last year the company was not invited to attend.

More details in our regular bulletin on Monday.