Insurance Brokers Network Australia (IBNA) has established a joint venture partnership with Melbourne-based technology company InsuranceConnect.

The joint venture puts IBNA in control of broker management system BrokerCentral, which handles quotes, policies, claims and supporting documentation.

While shareholdings details have not been revealed, IBNA Chairman Trevor Lofts says the group’s share of the BrokerCentral joint venture is “significant”.

He says IBNA has become involved in the ownership of BrokerCentral “to ensure the interests of its members and the broader insurance community are given strong focus”.

One of the primary goals is to establish a “best practice, industry-owned and industry-operated model”.

“The model also establishes an environment of co-operative joint development with an IT vendor where strategic goals are aligned and not competing, as has typically occurred in the past.”

IBNA director Peter Roberts says BrokerCentral “offers our members substantially improved functionality and workflow efficiencies which could not be found in comparable products in the marketplace”.

He says the new business will quickly establish “very strong user group structures to facilitate feedback and drive the future development of the system”.

“We are excited by the future environment that this joint venture will create for both IBNA members and the broader insurance industry.”

On May 31 this year insuranceNEWS.com.au reported that InsuranceConnect was negotiating with rival broker group Steadfast, but the negotiations were terminated in early July.

InsuranceConnect CEO Andrew Bennett says his company has “spent considerable time and effort” analysing alternative options to take BrokerCentral to a broader market.

“IBNA’s goals and ambitions for BrokerCentral aligned very closely with ours,” he said.

“Their desire to see a very open, standards-based approach, where the whole industry could benefit, influenced considerably our decision to select this model over other more closed proprietary options.”

He says the joint venture “has the potential to bring about a significant change in the insurance systems landscape in Australia”.

The deal with INBA will not affect InsuranceConnect’s other business, including its UnderwriterCentral application.