And here comes the first insurance “smart contract” with multinational value and based on blockchain technology, created in partnership with AIG (American International Group), Ibm and Standard Chartered Bank. The note accompanying the release of the product reads: “Blockchain technology creates a new level of confidence and transparency in the subscription process, allowing AIG and Standard Chartered to reach a more efficient multinational covering. Coordinated management and positioning of several insurance policies in different countries worldwide is very complex: the pilot project was designed by IBM and is based on Hyperledger Fabric, a blockchain framework and one of the Hyperledger projects hosted by Linux Foundation”.
The implementation of the new product has been achieved through the integration of a major UK multinational policy and three local policies (United States, Singapore and Kenya) to provide a shared view of real-time data and documentation. “This – the statement explains – also enables to gain visibility in covering and payment of the prize at domestic and international level, and gives automated notifications to network participants after payments”. The trial project, explains Aig, Ibm and Standard Chertered, proves the ease of placing third parties in the network, such as brokers, auditors, and other stakeholders, offering a customized view of payments and “policy” data and documentation.
“Our project shows that blockchain plays an important role in the future of the insurance industry. Nowadays we have to explore any kind of technology such as blockchain that, capable to increase trust and transparency in a sector based on these values. We are pleased to introduce great innovations for our customers and to contribute together to the development of the key components of this new technology” says Rob Schimek, CEO of AIG’s Commercial Area.
Emily Jenner, manager of operational insurance risk at Standard Chartered highlighted: “As a global bank, we need to ensure consistent, reliable, and secure financial transactions. By creating a process through which we can organize multinational insurance contracts through blockchains, we not only make transactions secure, but we also have certainty of contracts in multiple business locations”.
Marie Wieck, general manager of Ibm Blockchain, adds: “Blockchain offers a wealth of opportunities to transform the insurance industry. By making creative use of smart contracts to meet the different regulatory requirements of different countries, blockchain offers new levels of efficiency and introduces new business models”.
