Marsh and IBM Partner to Add Proof of Insurance on Blockchain Technology

Marsh announced its collaboration with IBM on April 16, Business Wire reported. The companies are going to work on the first commercial blockchain solution for proof of insurance.

“Marsh sees great opportunity in leveraging blockchain technology to better serve our clients by maximizing efficiency and creating new opportunities in the insurance value chain,” said Sastry Durvasula, chief digital officer at Marsh.

The initiative is a synergy of Marsh, IBM, ACORD, and ISN. ACORD, a data standards company, will take responsibility for providing input into the data standards used in the proof of insurance blockchain platform, while ISN will become the first client to use this upgraded financial technology.

Marsh also revealed that an open-source permissioned blockchain structure, Hyperledger Fabric, along with IBM Blockchain Platform would be used for the creation of the solution.

Blockchain tech was chosen for the project because of its security that can barely be hacked. When proof of insurance is put on the blockchain, there can be no doubt that all data is recent and correct. Developers hope that the financial market regulars will appreciate the project that helps to hire contractors and minimizes all the risks of a scam, while speeding up processing time and raising coverage certainty.

“Vastly simplifying the process for providing proof of insurance is a key enabler of business. IBM is committed to connecting emerging Blockchain networks to facilitate the next generation economy. This is an ideal example of how Blockchain can be used on a much broader scale to drive real business results,” Sandip Patel, general manager of insurance industry at IBM, said.

“The insurance industry has been dependent on paper certificates of insurance, manually populated by an insurance agent. By digitizing the policy information, we can streamline the process saving our customers time to focus on their core competencies,” Brett Parker, technical insurance lead at ISN explained is the reason for its involvement in the project.