Blockchain and insurance

1. Optimisation of services and processes

The immutability of transactions stored within a blockchain, linked to the possibility of scheduling transactions via SmartContracts, makes it possible to efficiently, safely, securely and demonstrably automate certain steps in the administrative processes of an insurance company. The direct consequences are a reduction in time and costs in the phases involved by the optimisation.

For example:

Automation of risk factor assessments (if they are linked to data available in the digital world)
Automation of compensation decisions (if they are linked to data available in the digital world)
Automate the process of taking out and renewing policies

Examples

B3i Services AG

Zurich-based company founded by 21 insurance companies (including Zurich, SwissRe, Generali, Allianz, AXA, etc) to accelerate the adoption of Blockchain technology in the insurance world.

“Our vision is to see the insurance market deliver better solutions for end consumers through faster access to insurance with less administrative cost.”

Lemonade

Insurance company based on blockchain technology (real estate, pets, etc).

Number 1 out of 270 US homeowners insurance companies. Benefit payments in 3 minutes, 2500 clients managed per employee on average. Net Promoter Score al 96%.

“Forget Everything You Know About Insurance”

ChainThat

Service company for insurance companies. Based on blockchain technology, it has developed services such as:

Bermuda Risk Exchange: the world’s first technology driven (re)insurance risk and capital exchange.
Placing: application that allows brokers and re/insurers to negotiate, create and manage placement terms when a new risk contract is being placed in a market
Accounting, Settlement and Claims Agreement: management of (re)insurance Technical & Financial Accounting, Net or Direct Settlement and Claims Agreement.
CTContract: Contract management platform that allows multi-parties to create, negotiate and manage a digital contract.

“Real solutions, Real efficiency.”

2. Creation of new services

Through SmartContracts, the exchange of risks and values can be encoded in a secure and immutable software block. A SmartContract can be as “complex” as you like, depending on the business idea you want to represent. In this way it is possible to create insurance policies with articulated clauses that can be personalised according to external parameters. The transition from traditional policies to an ultra-secure executable software, in addition to opening up hitherto impossible scenarios, introduces efficiency (see Category 1) and transparency (see Category 3).

Examples:

Policies with automatic payment of compensation, conditional on objective data available on the web.
Policies with indemnity payments conditional on a favourable vote among multiple stakeholders between whom there doesn’t necessarily need to be trust.

Examples

Etherisc

Swiss platform for the development of fully automated insurance services based on blockchain. International reference point.

Services already developed: Insurance on air travel, with immediate payment based on computer data of arrivals and departures. Agricultural crop insurance with immediate payment based on atmospheric and sensor data in the field. Hurricane insurance, based on satellite data.

“Make Insurance Fair and Accessible”

Inmediate

Another platform at the service of insurance companies for the development of innovative services fully automated and based on blockchain.

“We Build Future-Ready Smart Insurance”

3. Compliance, regulation, transparency and traceability

Blockchain technology allows events within an insurance company’s processes to be tracked in a guaranteed and immutable manner. This makes it possible to easily certify and guarantee the transparency of its processes both to its policyholders and externally to regulators. It is possible, for example, to create a public (but anonymous) record of the events that have characterised the financial management of the company. Or track the various stages of a claim in order to demonstrate its reliability to the policyholder.

There are countless examples in this field and they vary considerably depending on the sector in which the company operates and the regulations to which it is subject.