Public information can and should be digitised to facilitate access, analysis and comparison, and we can use existing tools to make it happen. While European regulatory authorities have required XBRL-based reporting for some time, this information is not public – and publicly available Pillar III information is usually published in PDF, making it not truly digital and therefore difficult to meaningfully use.

In one of the highlights of April’s Data Amplified Virtual conference, Antoine Bourdais and Clément Duhamel of Invoke gave a live proof-of-concept demonstration of how we can – relatively easily – apply state-of-the art analytical technology to digitise insurance Pillar III disclosures, leveraging the introduction of Inline XBRL (or iXBRL) reporting in Europe with the rollout of the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) to collect and analyse this public information. They have revisited their conference session in a guest post in the Taggings section of the XBRL international website.

“The technology we have available is mature enough for the digitisation of public information, both in terms of production and of analysis,” they say. “We hope that we’ve demonstrated the value of digitisation in terms of greater transparency and utility of data, and at the same time shown that the transition to Inline XBRL and digital information is really not a huge challenge for companies.”

They conclude: “Inline XBRL is a very smart vehicle to support this digitisation of narrative reports, with effective tools and excellent results.”