Insureblocks Blockchain & Smart Contracts In Insurance

For this week’s episode, we spoke to Steve Pomfret, CEO at Cygnetise. Steve describes himself as a “process guy” with over 18 years of experience in bringing about operational change (efficiency and de-risking) at reputed banks and brokerage firms. After learning about blockchain, Steve spotted an opportunity to apply his skills and learnings together with blockchain to streamline processes within the financial ecosystem.  Presently, Cygnetise has one blockchain application used for management and distribution of authorized signatory lists such as delegated authorities, bank mandates etc.   What is blockchain? According to Steve, blockchain has 4 pillars – Decentralised database A centralized database allows users with requisite permissions to add, remove, edit and view data (think of a spreadsheet on your computer!) A decentralised database is not owned by a single party. Hence, each party, with requisite permissions, can add and view data. There is a record (time-stamped audit trail to document m

For this week’s episode, we spoke to Sandip Patel, Global Managing Director for insurance across IBM. Sandip refers to himself as a lifetime practitioner in the insurance industry having worked for PWC and Aetna and IBM within the insurance industry. In this special episode Sandip shares with us what are IBM's 2019 insurance predictions.   What is blockchain in under 2 minutes? Sandip reminds us that practitioners in the insurance industry are painfully aware of the friction and the manual cycles that are involved in different insurance processes. Blockchain is an operating system for establishing trust in the insurance trust. A shared replicated and permissioned ledger technology which allows any participant in the business network and the business process, that they are engaged in across different parties, to see these systems of records. It’s a single system of records, ledger of transactions, with consensus, prominence, immutability and finality. Blockchain carries the following three characteristics:

This week’s episode is slightly different from the norm – it was recorded off the fly and in the moment as a fireside style discussion. Walid had the opportunity to speak to Timothy Dwyer and Michael Fulton from Nationwide. During this podcast, we get an overview of Nationwide,  discussed their perspective and lessons learnt on blockchain and its recent Proof of Insurance POC. First a little about our guests: Timothy Dwyer, Vice President & Assistant Treasurer to Nationwide, returns to our podcast to provide some further insight into blockchain from Nationwide’s perspective. Tim’s role at Nationwide covers banking, credit and debt finance. Michael Futon, Associate VP Technology Innovation, makes his debut appearance. Michael is the representative for Nationwide at the RiskBlock Alliance.   What is blockchain? Michael answers this question from an innovator’s perspective – Blockchain allows participants to do things differently – its key properties are its decentralised nature and immutability.   How imp

In this week’s episode we get an insight into how blockchain can enable ‘mutualisation’ and learn about social insurance from VouchForMe. Our guest is Matt Peterman, Founder, VouchForMe and InsurePal. Matt’s experience spans private equity and fraud detection in the insurance industry. It was roughly 3 years ago that Matt realized that ‘mutualisation’ in insurance was gone – this realization led to Matt co-founding InsurePal.   Breaking down the jargon What is blockchain? “Blockchain is a mechanism where we can send information and money at the same time through non-centralized institutions.” Matt provides the example of Ethereum by highlighting that instead of sending money through Swift, people can now send money through a network for 25,000 miners (who form the Ethereum network) in a P2P (peer-to-peer) manner.   What is Ethereum? “Ethereum is a software of the future (economy.)” Matt makes a profound statement that Ethereum is ‘a software’ and not ‘the software’ i.e. it is still early days in the bloc

For this week’s episode, we spoke to Arun Narayanan, Head of Data and Analytics at Ed. This episode provides an excellent insight into the specialty insurance market at Lloyd’s and how blockchain based solutions can streamline processes, generate savings and promote product innovation. Ed Broking is a global wholesale insurance broker which is headquartered in London with offices in China, Dubai, Germany, and the USA.  Ed Broking provides clients with broking facilities for a wide-range of specialty business lines such as aerospace, marine cargo, construction and energy. What is blockchain?  “Blockchain is a distributed ledger that sits on a peer-to-peer network where transactions are validated by every other member in the network.” After providing a technical definition of blockchain, Arun proceeds to explain the benefits and features of blockchain: Blockchain can improve data sharing – Each transaction stored on the distributed ledger must be validated and these transactions are visible to all parties w

For this week’s episode, we spoke to Ashish Gupta, CEO of docprime.com and CTO of Policybazaar. This is our first time focusing on the Indian insurance ecosystem and Ashish provides an excellent insight into the $95 billion insurance market along with Policybazaar’s latest blockchain implementation. Indeed, an episode you cannot miss! Policybazaar is India’s leading insurance aggregator which provides a platform for retail customers to purchase health, life and motor insurance. Currently, Policybazaar has control over roughly 80-85% of the insurance aggregator market in India and the platform transacts roughly 30-40% of all personal line’s insurance cover sold in India.   What is blockchain? “Blockchain is a more secure and dispersed way of saving data.” Ashish explains that in the Indian insurance market, data has been traditionally stored in servers – data is disjointed, there is a lack of transparency and a lack of trust during data exchange. Blockchain is resistant to change i.e. data is verified and p

For this week’s episode, we had the opportunity to speak to Antonio Di Marzo, Product Owner - Commercial Insurance at B3i, at the B3i headquarters in Zurich. Antonio provides an excellent insight into B3i’s upcoming project – commercial insurance on the blockchain which was announced in September this year at the ‘Rendez-Vous de Septembre’. If you haven’t listened to the earlier News Flash episode regarding this announcement, now is a good time to do so! Prior to his current role at B3i, Antonio spent over ten years at Generali Global Corporate and Commercial. During his time at Generali, he was involved in building a global platform and he feels deploying this platform across various countries was the biggest challenge he faced. Antonio brings this experience of leading digital transformation and dealing with different cultures to B3i.   What is blockchain? “Blockchain is a catalyst (for industry); this technology is bringing people together, empowering people and enabling transformation.” Antonio believes

In this week’s episode we get an insight into blockchain from the perspective of Swiss Re and hear about the lessons learnt from their projects. Our guest is Jags Rao, Blockchain Workstream Lead, Finance Reinsurance at Swiss Re.  Having started out his career over 22 years ago as a software engineer working on a COBOL system, Jags has seen tremendous changes in technology – today he is a strong proponent of distributed computing and he is betting big on blockchain!   What is blockchain? “(Blockchain is) a platform in which you can validate transactions, and this makes blockchain fascinating!” According to Jags, blockchain consists of several components - a network, a protocol, and a distributed ledger. From the business perspective, blockchain permits virtual recording of economic transactions i.e. an exchange involving something of value – which could be a will, a deed or even a title license. From the technology perspective, it is an open-ended database which records transactions in an immutable fashion.

In this week’s episode we will investigate how blockchain is being deployed in the healthcare and the health insurance industry. Our guest is Ahmed Abdulla, CEO & Founder of Digipharm. Prior to founding Digipharm, Ahmed was a Global Health Economist at Rosche and Research Associate at the University of Liverpool. In addition to his present role as CEO, Ahmed is a Blockchain expert in healthcare for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Blockchain in two minutes According to Ahmed, blockchain is a collection of records – referred to as ‘blocks.’ Through cryptographic hashes, a block is linked to the previous block. This creates an open and distributed ledger, which is cryptographically secure, timestamped and immutable.   Digipharm and value-based healthcare Digipharm began as a project a year and a half ago with a goal of becoming an independent third-party platform to implement value based healthcare which is the notion of paying for healthcare on the basis of the performance of the treatment o

For this week’s episode we had the pleasure to hear about the exciting blockchain work IBM does in the insurance industry and beyond. We very pleased to have Craig Bedell, Global Insurance Industry Executive, and Annap Derebail, Executive Architect Financial Services Sector from IBM, take us through IBM’s journey with Hyperledger Fabric and some interesting blockchain case studies.   Blockchain in 2 minutes Annap Annap chose to explain what is blockchain from an insurance perspective. The insurance industry operates within a network that involves brokers, service providers, regulators, advisory services, other insurance carries and reinsurers. They transact business across this network by exchanging assets that typically historically have been recorded in ledgers or systems of record by each party involved in these transactions. As they compete with each other they don’t necessarily trust each other. The effect of this lack of trust is that when ledger’s mismatch for whatever reason, either due to error or

Welcome to another exciting episode of Insureblocks! Today we are joined by Stan Nazarenko and Karl Stanley who discuss how blockchain can enable seamless data transfer in the insurance industry. Stan Nazarenko is the CEO of Piprate which is an InsurTech data sharing platform. Piprate aims to provide companies in the insurance and reinsurance space with a way to share data that creates trust, accountability and transparency. Karl Stanley is an AVP at Technology Ventures for Renaissance Re. Renaissance Re is a global reinsurer specializing in writing P&C business which has been in existence for 25 years.  Technology Ventures at Renaissance Re is a combination of a Corporate VC arm and an innovation department – the objective of this function is to keep an eye on emerging technology, provide advice to the VC arm on technology investment and develop internal technology strategy for both the short and long term.   Blockchain in two minutes Our guests were asked the customary Insureblocks question to share thei

In this week’s podcast we will be discussing digital IDs onto the blockchain. We had the pleasure of having 2 guests in this episode. Daniel Faria, CEO of Nodalblock and Timothy Dwyer, VP and Assistant Treasurer at Nationwide Insurance. Daniel has had a career in cyber security and entrepreneurship. Timothy has spent a majority of his career in treasury and navigated into blockchain about 3 years ago by looking at the disruption it could bring to banking.   Blockchain in two minutes To explain blockchain in a non-technical manner, think about a traditional accounting firm that has one hundred book keepers. What if each of one of those one hundred book keepers had at the same time had to maintain a ledger saying exactly the same thing. Out of those hundred if more than 51 would say that a certain record is wrong, then all of the other ones would have to fix the book to maintain the record exactly the same way.   About Nodalblock Nodalblock is a blockchain cyber security company. The fastest FBI has stated t

In this week’s episode we will look into how blockchain can reinvent the insurance value chain. Our guest is Risto Rossar, founder of Black Insurance. Risto has over 20 years experience in the insurance industry, having worked in insurance before launchingfive insurtech startups. Now he is focusing on Black, a blockchain-enabled, decentralised insurance marketplace.   Blockchain in two minutes Risto focuses on blockchain’s value proposition, which he believes lies in replacing central authority bodies. Potential candidates include central and traditional banks, government branches, courts and (of course) insurance companies. Blockchain does have a broader range of uses. However, Risto supports that other technologies can achieve these just as well and it is important to ensure the positive aspects of blockchain outweighthe challenges it entails.   Discovering blockchain Risto had been exploring how technology can improve the insurance industry long beforeblockchain. In 2001 he created one of the first onli

With the US battling Hurricane Florence and typhoons battering China and the Philippines, the insurance industry is preparing for potential record claims. Handling those claims and, more importantly, helping those affected rebuild their lives is a challenge facing people across the insurance industry. For today’s “Bonus Episode” we will be exploring how blockchain can provide insurance to hurricane afflicted areas. With us we have Renat Khasanshyn, co-founder of Etherisc. Renat is responsible for products at Etherisc, helping people join the Etherisc ecosystem to build their own insurance offering.   Blockchain in two minutes A blockchain is a distributed ledger. By combining security and immutability through the use of cryptographic algorithms, the whole network can be absolutely certain they are accessing the same information. This enhanced trust and security creates numerous potential applications: Implementing checks and balances regarding funds or tokens in an account. Issuing and tracking an insu

For this week’s episode will be shifting our focus from blockchain itself to one of blockchain’s most popular applications, cryptocurrencies. Specifically, we will be discussing the challenges and opportunities of brokering crypto assets. To help us we have a panel of experts including Rachel Turk, Head of Directors and Officers insurance at Beazley, Rhys James, Head of Management Liability and Financial Institutions at Paragon Brokers and Ed Ventham, Client Executive at Paragon Brokers.   Blockchain in two minutes A blockchain is a distributed ledger that is maintained by a network of users. It is powered by its users, who keep it secure through cryptographic algorithms. This is a distinguishing feature of blockchain that ensures the ledger is safe and trustworthy.   Cryptocurrencies Cryptocurrencies are the tokens of value that exist on specific blockchains. The Bitcoin blockchain, for example, uses Bitcoin. The US Securities and Exchange Commission designated cryptocurrencies as a currency, saying they

      This week we bring you a very special episode, straight from the heart of London’s insurance industry. Our guest has provided leadership, inspiration, innovation and the embracing of all communities irrespective of gender, race or religious affiliation. We are proud to have with us Inga Beale, CEO of Lloyd’s of London. We will be discussing blockchain and the future of Lloyd’s. As Insureblocks is based on community, Inga will also be answering the questions you submitted over the past weeks.   Blockchain in two minutes A blockchain is a shared, immutable record of transactions. Blockchain’s traceability and cryptographic verification make it an exciting prospect for the insurance industry. Transactions can become particularly complex and involve numerous parties. A claim, for example, usually involves the claimant, the policyholder and the customer. However, it can also involve a third-party loss adjuster, a lawyer, an underwriter, a company claims adjuster, brokers and so on. The beauty of blockchai

Welcome to the second episode of our News Flash series, where we share the latest developments in the blockchain space. For today’s episode we are excited to present returning speaker Christopher McDaniel, president of the RiskBlock Alliance. Chris will guide us through the release of Canopy 2.0, the new version of the RiskBlock Alliance’s blockchain framework, which will run on R3’s Corda Blockchain.   RiskBlock Alliance The RiskBlock Alliance, which featured in one of our previous episodes (An Introduction to The RiskBlock Alliance), is an industry-led consortium comprised of insurance carriers, brokers and reinsurers focused on delivering blockchain solutions to the insurance industry. What sets it apart from other insurance consortiums is the fact it’s a not-for-profit organisation sponsored by The Institutes, an educational organisation focusing on the property and casualty space that has been around for over a century. Since its founding last September, the RiskBlock Alliance has expanded significant

Welcome to another episode of our News Flash series, where share the latest developments in the blockchain space, straight off the press. For today’s episode we are excited to present Ken Marke, CMO at B3i, the blockchain insurance industry initiative. Ken is joining us to reveal some exciting news about B3i’s new product and plans for the future.   B3i B3i, which we have introduced in a previous episode, began life in October 2016 when five insurers and reinsurers came together to see how blockchain can benefit the insurance industry. This led to a consortium which ten other members joined to test the viability of blockchain in solving problems for the insurance industry. Its first project was a prototype for a catastrophe excess of loss programme, which has been very successful. The next step was to establish B3i as a legal entity, domiciled in Zurich. Now, B3i is focused on expanding its product line and enabling partners to cooperate with them to offer more products and services on B3i’s platform, ther

In today’s episode we focus on insurance regulatory reporting with the American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS). With us we have Joan Zerkovich, Senior Vice President of Operations at AAIS. Prior to the AAIS, Joan worked in information technology, with over twenty years as a CIO specialising in building large infrastructure systems. Joan will talk to us about openIDL (open Insurance Data Link), the blockchain-based solution aiming to improve data sharing between insurance carriers, the AAIS and US state regulators.   Blockchain in two minutes Blockchain is a technology that provides increased trust and security in data sharing systems. It enables users to upload records, data or transactions to a system, which are stored in a chronological order and cannot be modified or deleted. The records are encrypted and stored in blocks, with copies of those blocks then stored in the same away across the network. The immutability of the records and the secure storage across numerous computers on the network pr

Today with us we have Susan Holliday, Principal Insurance Specialist at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), all the way from Washington DC. Susan has over thirty years of experience in the insurance industry and specializes in insurance and insuretechs. We will be discussing how to unlock the future of blockchain and the opportunities for insurers in emerging markets.   Blockchain in two minutes While there are different blockchains with slightly different features, blockchain is centered around two key features: It is a distributed ledger. This means it has numerous nodes and, if one part of the blockchain experiences an error, the rest of the blockchain remains operational. The transactions are processed in blocks. Each block is linked by a hash (a cryptographic function) and is immutable. This means it is completely transparent and users can trace every transaction.   The International Finance Corporation The IFC is the World Bank’s private sector arm. It is government-funded, with nearly a