B3i launches working reinsurance blockchain prototype

Monte Carlo, 10th September 2017 – B3i, the Blockchain Insurance Industry Initiative, announces launch of market beta-testing of its reinsurance blockchain prototype.

Valter Trevisani, Group Chief Insurance Officer of Generali commented: “We are proud to play an active role in this new initiative. Blockchain is an innovative technology that will transform the economic system and will significantly change the insurance market. The secure and efficient data sharing can bring many advantages to our business as well. New technologies allow us to improve the operating processes and to provide our customers with even more efficient insurance products and services. We will continue our path of innovation because we believe it is a key driver of our strategy aimed to make Generali the best insurance choice for our clients.”

Paolo Ribotta, Head of Generali Global Corporate & Commercial at Generali Group added: “We are excited to witness the implementation of the working prototype that has been developed. B3i is a key initiative in the insurance and reinsurance ecosystem that by joining Market forces and leveraging on Blockchain technology, could further modernize our industry, streamlining communication and transactions, paving the way to unexplored opportunities eventually. Creating value for our customers by focusing on innovation is a must. Our customers in all industries are investing in distributed ledgers and smart contract technology to achieve end to end synergies, integration and efficiency. We want to continue to speak their language, helping them to drive their business adding value beyond the policy in a simpler and smarter way”.

The group of fifteen global insurers and reinsurers participating in the B3i initiative has been working on a joint distributed ledger for reinsurance transactions driven by blockchain technology.

In a much anticipated move, the group for the first time publically showcased a fully functional beta-version of its integrated blockchain solution for the re/insurance industry at the 61st Monte Carlo RVS conference. Details of its vision, an industry business case and planned next steps were also shared.

Paul Meeusen of B3i said: “I am really excited about our launch. Over the past four months, a dedicated, combined team drawn from B3i member firms has produced a working prototype covering the core functionalities required to enable a distributed smart contract management system for Property Cat XoL contracts. The deployment architecture is already close to a production-ready environment and the team is preparing for feature enhancements of the prototype and a first deployment into production in 2018.”

After launching the initiative last year, the B3i members have been seeking to fulfill the huge potential of blockchain with a singular vision: To build an efficient world-wide industry platform for market participants to more easily cede, handle and trade risks.

The platform uses state-of-the-art distributed ledger technology to enable secure, confidential and efficient transactions in a blockchain network. The short term focus of the platform is on handling reinsurance contracts.

The B3i team has also developed an industry business case for the platform across the whole value chain. The consensus amongst the companies is that a productivity gain of up to 30% is achievable. B3i’s Sylvain De Crom added that all parties involved will gain from this efficiency. This means that brokers, insurers and reinsurers alike will benefit from lower administration costs and will be able to offer more attractive rates and fees in the future.

The immediate next step is to launch a market beta-testing program for the prototype starting in October 2017. All insurance industry participants (insurers, brokers, reinsurers) are welcome to join this testing program.

Existing B3i members and new participants will be able to take part in the test on an equalbasis of a common testing agreement. The participants will be granted access to a “sandbox” environment to simulate the creation and settlement of contracts and will be expected to feedback comments and change requests through defined channels. All participants will also gain access to B3i user group workshops until the end of 2017.

The current governance and membership composition of B3i, based on a contractual agreement between the 15 companies, will remain unchanged until 31st December 2017. A review is underway to consider creating a more permanent operation within a legal entity in 2018. The objective of this entity is to further develop the infrastructure and processes to enable decision agility, talent acquisition and future platform R&D capabilities. Both current B3i members and new testing participants will be actively involved and kept informed of the investment opportunities presented by this next phase.

More details about the future business strategy and a sustainable business plan for B3i will be disclosed to all market testing participants and B3i members at a later stage.

The current 15 members of B3i are Achmea, Aegon, Ageas, Allianz, Generali, Hannover Re,Liberty Mutual, Munich Re, RGA, SCOR, Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance, Swiss Re, Tokio Marine Holdings, XL Catlin and Zurich Insurance Group.

See http://b3i.tech/ for more information about B3i and our activities.

THE GENERALI GROUP
Generali is an independent, Italian Group, with a strong international presence. Established in 1831, it is among the world’s leading insurers and it is present in over 60 countries with total premium income exceeding € 70 billion in 2016. With over 74,000 employees in the world, and 55 million clients, the Group has a leading position in Western Europe and an increasingly significant presence in the markets of Central and Eastern Europe and in Asia. In 2017 Generali Group was included among the most sustainable companies in the world by the Corporate Knights ranking.