The Blockchain Insurance Industry Initiative (B3i), a blockchain technology consortium for insurers launched by Zurich Insurance, has announced the addition of several new members.
The new members in the initiative, which now total 15, are Hannover Re, SCOR, and Generali Group, moving alongside Allianz, Swiss Re, and Liberty Mutual.
“Blockchain technology has the potential to optimise business processes and value chains in the insurance industry,” said Gerhard Ebeling, general manager and head of department IT operations at Hannover Re. “With the B3i initiative we now have a platform for the efficient and trendsetting testing and improvement of intercompany processes.
“We are therefore pleased to be part of this initiative and to have an opportunity to develop common standards for our industry,” Ebeling added.
Denis Kessler, SCOR chairman and CEO, said: “SCOR’s role as a global tier one reinsurer is to experiment and test cutting-edge technology like blockchain. The success of the proof of concept conducted by SCOR on blockchain, along with the work of the B3i members on this technology, will help to accelerate the digitalisation of the (re)insurance sector, to the benefit of the whole industry.”
The insurance sector is one of the most frequently cited in terms of its potentially disruptive nature through blockchain – a Deloitte primer from last year argued that ‘at first glance, there is great potential for insurers to use blockchain technology to streamline payments of premiums and claims’.
Alessandro Spadoni, Zurich Insurance chief architect, put the case forward when announcing the B3i consortium back in October. “If blockchain technology proves to be a viable tool, it could transform the insurance industry through a shared, transparent record of contract-related information,” Spadoni wrote in a blog post. “Streamlining communication and transactions could then improve industry processes as well as insurance services to customers.”
The B3i group aims to share the first results of its endeavours in June.
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