23 more insurers sign on with blockchain consortium

The Blockchain Insurance Industry Initiative has added 23 new companies to its Market Testing program.

These entrants bring the total number of consortium members to 38. B3i started last year with five members before adding 10 more earlier this year. The latest cohort has signed on following a successful prototype introduced at the reinsurance industry's annual Monte Carlo conference this summer.

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The Aon Center, headquarters for Aon Corporation, is seen in Chicago, Illinois, Monday April 29, 2002. Aon Corp., the second- biggest insurance broker, will set up a $56 million reserve for disputed claims related to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, reducing first-quarter profit by about 20 cents a share. Photographer: Tannen Maury/Bloomberg News

The new additions are AIA, AIG, Aon, Chubb, Covéa, Everest Re, Gen Re, Guy Carpenter & Marsh, JLT Re, Leadway Assurance, LocalTapiola, Mapfre Re, Navigators, PartnerRe, QBE Re, SAHAM Assurance, Sava Re, Takaful Emarat, TigerRisk, Trust Re, UnipolSai and Willis Re. Some of the companies, like AIG and Gen Re, have explored blockchain previously.

“I am very pleased to welcome 23 new companies to B3i”, said Paul Meeusen, head of distributed ledger technology at Swiss Re and that company’s B3i representative. “In less than a year B3i has become truly global, both in terms of the work we are undertaking and the companies we represent. We look forward to working with the new entrants who will take part in our market testing, and to learning from each other’s expertise and experience."

Market testing of the prototype will begin this month, after training all member companies. Each participating company will simulate creating and managing property catastrophe insurance contracts in order to test post placement processes. The goal is to get feedback leading to a viable production platform by the second half of 2018. As it grows, B3i also plans a new limited-liability company structure designed to better serve its members and future platform users, the consortium says.

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