区块链_一种广泛应用于保险的新兴技术（英文版）_17页_1mb

Blockchain – an Emerging Technology with Wide Potential Application for Insurance

Core Content

Blockchain is an emerging technology that has the potential to revolutionize various sectors, including insurance. It is a distributed ledger that permanently records transactions in a replicated shared ledger, enabling a value exchange network for moving and validating transactions between peers without intermediaries. Key features of blockchain include transparency, real-time updates, immediate availability, and selective audibility for all stakeholders.

Blockchain's unique combination of four technologies—Distributed Ledger, Cryptography, Consensus, and Smart Contracts—creates a robust framework for establishing trust, accountability, and transparency in financial markets and insurance applications. It offers a trust web over the internet, which can be used to facilitate secure and verifiable transactions.

Main Applications in Insurance

Financial Markets and Insurance Applications

• Banking and Exchanges: Early adopters of blockchain, including Credit Suisse, Barclays, and Goldman Sachs, are testing blockchain in areas like post-trade settlement, trade finance, international payments, corporate bonds, and asset tracking.
• NASDAQ: Exploring blockchain for peer-to-peer securities transactions to replace traditional systems.
• DTCC and Digital Asset: Partnering to develop a blockchain solution for Repo clearing.
• Insurance Companies and Startups:
  • AXA Strategic Ventures invested in Blockstream, a company that develops hybrid blockchain platforms.
  • Everledger is developing a permanent ledger for diamond certification to combat fraud.
  • PWC Wholesale Reinsurance PoC focuses on placement and contract life cycle documentation.
  • Dynamis, a peer-to-peer insurance company, uses blockchain and smart contracts for unemployment insurance.
  • Allianz is using blockchain for Cat bonds to facilitate natural catastrophe risk trading.
  • ChainThat is a decentralized platform for commercial insurance placing.
  • SafeShare launched the first blockchain-based insurance solution for the sharing economy.

Swiss Re Activities

Swiss Re is actively exploring blockchain for reinsurance processes, with a focus on internal retrocession (IGR). The company aims to automate the retrocession process using smart contracts, integrating Cat XoL (Catastrophe Excess of Loss) with Quota Share (Q/S) to create a streamlined process for contract creation, statement processing, cession calculation, payment instruction generation, and settlement recording.

Swiss Re also envisions extending the blockchain network across the industry through B3i (Blockchain Insurance Industry Initiative), which is particularly suited for proportional contracts like non-life quota shares and simple excess of loss structures. Benefits include acceleration of processes, reduction in cost and operational risk, increased transparency, and better cash management.

Blockchain in Parametric Insurance

Blockchain is being integrated into parametric insurance products, especially in the microinsurance and insurance-on-demand market, where low premium and high volume are key. The main obstacle in this market is transaction fees, which blockchain may help to reduce and enhance efficiency along the insurance value chain.

Index-based insurance for severe weather conditions is a notable application, where smart contracts automatically trigger payouts based on predefined conditions, eliminating the need for manual claims processing.

Market Outlook and Challenges

2017 Market Outlook

• Investment will focus on establishing standards, achieving scalability, and ensuring confidentiality.
• Private blockchains with a limited subset of trusted participants are expected to emerge.
• Blockchain-inspired applications like R3 Corda will address specific industry needs.
• Regulators will step in to assess the challenges and benefits of blockchain.
• The first wave of enterprise applications in financial services will go into production.
• New research areas will include synergy between blockchain, IoT, and Big Data.

Top Challenges

1. Regulatory Environment: Lack of clear regulations and standards.
2. Collective Standardization: Need for industry-wide consensus on blockchain standards.
3. Legal Framework: Legal implications and enforceability of smart contracts.
4. Confidentiality/Privacy: Balancing transparency with data privacy.
5. Systems Integration: Integrating blockchain with existing systems.
6. Scalability: Handling high transaction volumes and ensuring performance.

Conclusion

Blockchain is not a magic bullet but has the potential to enhance cooperation, reduce operational costs, and create new product and enhancement opportunities in the insurance industry. Its integration into parametric insurance, reinsurance processes, and financial markets is showing promising results, and the future outlook is positive with a focus on standardization, scalability, and regulatory clarity.