Source: asiainsurancereview.com

Late October saw the launch of China’s first ‘Insurance Blockchain Innovation Centre (IBIC)’ on the sidelines of the second Lujiazui International Reinsurance Conference. The centre was jointly established by the Shanghai Insurance Exchange (SIE).

SIE chairman Zhou Yanli said that the establishment of IBIC was important for the banking and insurance industry in order that it could promote the development of FinTech. He went on to say that the function of IBIC was to open, share and innovate around the concept of blockchain. This would involve three main aspects of digital transformation: Technology R&D, scene application and standard-setting. This would help to achieve blockchain cross-agency, cross-industry, cross-regional multi-scene technology innovation and application, he said.

Mr Zhou went on to say that the first thing that IBIC would focus on would be blockchain reinsurance standards before continuing to promote blockchain technology in the insurance industry as a standardised, large-scale application. SIE has attached great importance to the use of blockchain, cloud computing and other FinTech developments, with a focus on building a modern, scientific and technological financial infrastructure. Following this, under the guidance and support of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and government at all levels, SIE together with both domestic and foreign reinsurers will, “build a platform for the sharing and win-win construction of the insurance industry and the industrial chain, empower the real economy and lead high-quality development of the industry,” Mr Zhou said.

The industry is currently leading the development of blockchain application standards for the insurance industry to improve the overall operational efficiency of insurance. So far it has completed the construction of a functional insurance-trading framework and effectively fulfilled its two responsibilities of service supervision and service marketing, to “make insurance transactions more efficient, so that insurance products benefit the people more,” Mr Zhou said.