eReinsure launches new blockchain service

eReinsure plans to offer a blockchain service linked to its reinsurance platform. The online (re)insurance engagement platform owned by AmWINS outlined its intention to develop blockchain services after a record month of activity in December 2017, when 6741 reinsurance professionals utilized its reinsurance-placing technology for renewals.

Chief executive Igor Best-Devereux said: “eReinsure is uniquely positioned to partner with Blockchain technology providers to offer this new service to insurers, reinsurers and brokers who use eReinsure’s system.”

He added: “Distributed Ledger capabilities can potentially create a new paradigm for the way information is shared between the parties to reinsurance contracts, so Blockchain fits nicely with our efforts to streamline the reinsurance market with cost effective services.”

The industry as a whole has shown a strong desire to explore and implement blockchain technology. At the end of last year, a raft of (re)insurance indsutry firms joined the Blockchain Insurance Industry Initiative (B3i) intending to examine how distributed ledger technologies can be used to benefit the insurance sector.

The challenges of developing a service of this nature are not lost on Best-Devereux, who added a cautionary note regarding blockchain: “As and when clients want to move in this direction, there are still many questions to address, including data privacy, identity resolution, immutability, and the legal and regulatory compliance framework.

“We expect the early implementations to be a collaboration with clients as they and the industry consider the value proposition and relative merits of Blockchain. However, we want to offer the deep experience of the eReinsure team to further the cost-effective and low-risk implementation of this emerging technology.”