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WOW! Cutting administrative costs by 30%? Who wouldn't want to do that? Well, it seems the insurance industry (specifically re/insurers) CAN get those cost savings by integrating blockchain technology to make transactions faster and more efficient. Thirty eight companies including Munich Re, Zurich Insurance and Swiss Re have formed a collaboration tagged B3i to explore the potential of blockchain. Insurance is getting just so progressive. And I am starting to compare blockchain to aspirin. A miracle technology that can cure all sort of things.

(Bill Taylor/Founding Editor)


"Blockchain technology could reduce re/insurer’s administrative costs by up to 30 percent by making transactions faster and more efficient, according to Ken Marke, director for strategy and business development at Ageas Group and chief marketing officer of B3i.

B3i is a collaboration of insurers and reinsurers formed to explore the potential of blockchain. Its current 38 members include Munich Re, Swiss Re and Zurich Insurance. Marke will unveil more on the progress made by B3i at the Intelligent Automation in Insurance conference on April 26 in London.

Blockchain is being hailed as having the potential to transform the industry. It enables a network to have a single version of a record or document containing all previous changes so there can be no misunderstanding or missing information. This also exists in a very secure environment, allowing for the selective distribution of the information.

“Currently, much of the communication involved in the processing of a reinsurance contract is not digital,” Marke said. “This leads to bureaucracy, noise and friction and makes a lot of reconciliation of data necessary. There are a large number of manual tasks involved where paperwork needs to be reconciled with others parties, raising queries. As a result, there is a lot of friction in the value chain.”

Blockchain could be used for flight delay insurance, allowing for instant automatic payments to the customer. French insurer AXA is doing just this: it is applying blockchain technology to its flight delay insurance platform offering an automated parametric insurance against delayed flights.

The technology can also be applied in private medical insurance, allowing for the transfer of confidential documents between doctors, surgeons and insurers and enabling access only to legitimate parties.

Blockchain could also be applied in motor insurance, making payments easier and more efficient.

B3i estimates that the application of blockchain technology could save up to 30 percent in administration costs. “These material cost savings mainly involve reducing manual tasks currently performed by administration staff,” Marke said..."


Full Story at Intelligentinsurer.com