Blockchain Technologies, a Catalyst for Insurance Sector
Rupa Khanna, Priya Jindal, Graţiela Georgiana Noja
Abstract
Insurance history can be traced back to early human civilisation in the form of Granaries i.e., risk pooling early adopted by merchants for the transportation of goods through ships. In 1968, Lloyds, a formal company of insurance, came into existence. Since then, the insurance industry has evolved immensely and the insurers have witnessed a lot of disruptions. In the year 2008, blockchain technologies were thought of as the architecture for the Bitcoin cryptocurrency and are currently a burning area and the theme of various studies for various banking and financial payment-related industries. Blockchain can be a highly beneficial technology to simplify the complex processes of insurance. The insurance business runs on trust, but there are several frauds committed by people associated with the industry. Many times, insurance companies had paid the fraudulent claims due to lack of evidence and reported a loss of around 80 billion dollars, majorly 34 billion dollars reported from the property and casualty industry. Technology like blockchain is required to stop these practices and improve efficiency and trust while improvising transparency and reduction to claim costs. This chapter will discuss how blockchain technologies work, the applicability of blockchain 290technology in insurance, smart contracts, the type of blockchain technologies, and transforming asset management and reinsurance.