China's largest property and casualty insurance company with $126 billion total assets, People's Insurance Company of China (PICC), has partnered with VeChain, a blockchain technology company and DNV GL, a global quality assurance and risk management company, to bring digital transformation to the now stagnant insurance industry.
PICC believes that blockchain technology can result in reduced turnaround time, premiums, prevent fraud and improve Know-Your-Customer (KYC) compliance and claim experience. It further says that the realization of the advanced Internet of Things (IoT) devices and smart contracts within the insurance industry will potentially bring "instant compensation" for the companies producing a much more profitable business model.
Insurance companies use legacy claim management systems that produce overwhelming paper trails on insufficiently validated data that make up the current policy underwriting process. The inefficiencies within data collection, verification, and auditing cause policies to be placed on bad actors leading to price increases on the behalf of all policy owners. The blockchain solutions can provide robust assured solutions that protect user data, distribute ownership, and enhance existing artificial intelligence.
PICC says it chose VeChain because of their existing solutions with DNV GL catering to real problems within businesses and governments. VeChain's use of their public blockchain, VeChainThor, provides enterprises with the tools, securities, and governance to properly control their assets while collaborating across multiple verticals, industries, and even countries.
DNV GL's role will be to ensure data integrity from the business operation perspective. In conjunction with VeChainThor Platform, DNV GL will provide a robust digital trust platform to assist PICC with enhanced data management and efficient data processing.
VeChain will initially provide solutions for pre-selected use cases that enable PICC to expand upon the base technology. DNV GL's globally-approved role as an independent third-party assurer for all provisions will aid in the firm's expansion in blockchain-based solutions. The combined collaborative efforts of this partnership will create new value propositions and onboard existing PICC clients and competitors to a broader collaborative ecosystem that benefits everyone, the insurance company added.
Last month, another insurance company MetLife, through its Singapore-based innovation center LumenLab, begun testing the world’s first, automated insurance solution using blockchain technology to offer pregnant women financial protection in case of gestational diabetes, without ever needing to make a claim.
The financial services sector is exploring blockchain at a rapid pace. Earlier in June, IT giant Samsung SDS announced the development of 'Nexfinance' its own digital platform for the financial sector, which integrates technologies such as blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT) so that companies in the sector can transform their digital strategies.