Hexure and DTCC Deepen Alliance to End Insurance Gridlock

DALLAS, TX – April 30, 2026 – In a significant move to eliminate long-standing operational bottlenecks in the insurance and financial services industry, Hexure has announced a major expansion of its partnership with The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). The collaboration integrates DTCC’s real-time case tracking and post-issue servicing capabilities directly into Hexure’s FireLight sales automation platform, creating a unified, end-to-end workflow from initial application to long-term policy management.

The announcement signals a direct assault on the fragmented and often manual processes that have long plagued advisors, carriers, and their operations teams. By embedding DTCC’s industry-standard solutions into its AI-powered platform, Hexure aims to replace a cumbersome system of disparate portals, emails, and phone calls with a single, transparent digital highway.

A Unified Front Against Inefficiency

For decades, the post-submission life of an insurance or annuity application has been a "black box" for many financial advisors. After submitting paperwork, tracking its progress through underwriting and issuance often involves manually checking carrier-specific websites or spending valuable time on hold with service centers. This inefficiency is compounded when clients require post-issue services, such as updating beneficiaries, transferring funds, or changing their address—actions that trigger another round of forms and follow-ups.

These administrative hurdles are more than just an annoyance; they represent a significant drag on the industry. Research indicates that manual processes and the errors they generate can consume as much as 14% of a firm's operational budget. For advisors, this administrative burden detracts from their primary role: serving clients and growing their business. A recent survey highlighted that top-performing financial advisors are often twice as productive as their peers, a gap largely attributable to the effective use of technology to minimize administrative tasks.

Hexure’s expanded integration with DTCC is engineered to close this gap. By bringing DTCC’s Activity Status Tracking (ACT) and In-Force Transactions (IFT) into the FireLight ecosystem, the platform now offers a continuous, data-driven workflow. Advisors can see the real-time status of a submitted application and initiate common servicing requests directly within the same system they used for the initial sale.

“Our goal is to remove uncertainty and unnecessary handoffs across the sales and servicing lifecycle,” said Eric Opiela, VP of Product Management at Hexure, in the official announcement. “FireLight is the industry’s only unified, multi-line-of-business, end-to-end sales platform. With case visibility and expanded post-issue servicing integrated into FireLight, advisors spend less time chasing updates and more time serving clients.”

Deconstructing the Digital Toolkit

The power of this expanded partnership lies in the integration of three core components from DTCC’s Insurance & Retirement Solutions (I&RS) suite, which together cover the critical stages of the insurance product lifecycle.

First is Producer Authorization (PAR), a service Hexure integrated in early 2025. PAR acts as a digital gatekeeper, allowing firms to instantly verify in real-time if an advisor is licensed, appointed, and trained to sell a specific product in a given jurisdiction. This pre-sale compliance check is crucial for reducing "Not in Good Order" (NIGO) submissions, a major source of delays and costs for carriers.

The new expansion adds Activity Status Tracking (ACT), an API-driven messaging service that provides standardized, real-time updates on the status of pending new business. Instead of a vague "in progress" notification, ACT delivers granular information on where an application stands—whether it's in suitability review, awaiting funding, or pending producer credential validation. This transparency gives distributors and advisors a clear view of their entire book of pending business in one place.

Finally, the integration of In-Force Transactions (IFT) tackles the post-sale lifecycle. IFT automates a wide range of financial and non-financial requests. This includes fund transfers, withdrawals, investment updates, beneficiary changes, and even first notice of loss. By using standardized data and pre-filled information from the initial application, it streamlines these requests, reduces errors, and provides a clear audit trail from submission to completion.

The Strategic Evolution of a Partnership

This latest development is not a new beginning but a deliberate and significant deepening of the relationship between Hexure and DTCC. The initial integration of DTCC's PAR service in January 2025 positioned Hexure as a first mover in tackling NIGO issues at the point of sale. That move was a foundational step, addressing a critical pain point in the pre-submission phase.

The addition of ACT and IFT represents a natural and ambitious evolution, extending the platform's utility across the entire client journey. It transforms FireLight from a powerful sales and submission tool into a comprehensive lifecycle management hub. This strategic progression reflects a clear vision: to create a single, cohesive ecosystem where data flows seamlessly from one stage to the next, eliminating the digital and operational seams that have historically created friction.

This collaborative approach is seen by both parties as essential for industry-wide progress. “Across the insurance and retirement industry, there’s a clear shift to collaborating toward a more efficient ecosystem,” noted Jeanann Smith, Head of DTCC Insurance & Retirement Solutions. “The implementation of these services enables firms to do business faster with fewer manual touchpoints and more confidence at every step.”

For Hexure, this evolution reinforces FireLight's market position. “FireLight’s continued evolution reinforces its role as a unified sales platform for insurance sales and post-issue support,” Opiela added. “We’re building a more connected, consistent experience from sale through servicing, and creating new opportunities for carriers, distributors, and advisors to work in one workflow with greater transparency for everyone involved.”

Riding the Wave of Industry Transformation

The Hexure-DTCC alliance is a powerful illustration of the broader digital transformation sweeping through the financial services and insurance sectors. For years, InsurTech has been characterized by point solutions addressing specific problems. Now, the industry is maturing, with a growing emphasis on creating integrated, end-to-end platforms that deliver holistic value.

This partnership taps into several key trends. The first is the relentless push for automation and AI to enhance efficiency. With the global market for AI in insurance projected to exceed $100 billion by 2034, technologies that automate routine tasks are no longer a luxury but a competitive necessity. By automating status inquiries and service requests, the integrated platform frees up human capital to focus on higher-value activities like client relationship management and complex problem-solving.

Second is the heightened focus on the advisor and client experience. In an increasingly digital world, both advisors and their clients expect seamless, real-time interactions. A platform that provides transparency and simplifies complex processes not only improves advisor productivity but also translates into faster, more accurate service for the end client, fostering trust and loyalty.

Finally, this move exemplifies the power of strategic ecosystem development. Rather than attempting to build every component from scratch, smart technology providers are partnering with established infrastructure leaders like DTCC—an organization that processes trillions of dollars in securities transactions annually—to deliver robust, compliant, and scalable solutions. This model of collaboration between agile tech firms and industry cornerstones is rapidly becoming the primary engine of innovation in financial technology. As the industry continues its march toward full digitization, such integrated platforms are poised to become the new standard for conducting business.