TAL and industry superannuation fund UniSuper have developed an online tool for sharing group insurance data.

It uses “extensible markup language” design principles to automate the transfer of data between the insurer and the super fund in a highly secure environment.

The system adopts “future-proof” design, scalability and portability for both parties.

TAL Life CEO Brett Clark says the tool, linking the administration systems of the insurer and fund, reduces double handling and increases data integrity and security.

“Fund members will be able to make changes to their life cover in real time and the efficiencies gained overall by the fund and insurer will be passed onto customers through faster processing.”

He says the system is the “first of its kind in the world for the group life insurance market”.

The tool meets the Association for Co-operative Operations Research and Development (ACORD) standard known as ACORD Messaging Library.

ACORD Director of Global Development Alan Stitzer says TAL has been instrumental in advancing its standards implementation in Australia.

“We value [TAL’s] participation on our Australia steering committee and the important contributions it brings to the industry as a whole,” he said.