BlockCain in Insurance

Kyobo Life has been selected as an operator of the government’s pilot blockchain project.
Kyobo Life has been selected as an operator of the government’s pilot blockchain project.

 

Kyobo Life announced on April 19 that the life insurer was finally selected as an operator of the government’s pilot blockchain project for laying the foundation for vitalizing the internet of things (IoT).

According to Kyobo Life, this project is a pilot blockchain project conducted by the National Information Society Agency under the management of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning to lay a foundation for IoT promotion. When a company with a service development capability in its sector forms a consortium and takes part in the project, the government supports some money for the company. The consortium is composed of Kyobo Life along with insurtech specialist D. Lemon, blockchain technology company theloop, and hospital medical record service company One.

The core technology that they will develop and implement is that of providing a service which enables an automatic payment of small amounts of insurance money, such as indemnity insurance payouts, to policyholders by using blockchain and simple IoT authentication technology. In the past, if there is a reason for the payment of insurance money, the policyholder must submit various supporting documents to his or her insurance company to receive insurance money. However, when blockchain technology is used for the payment of insurance benefits and even when the policyholder does not charge the insurance money, the details of the payment of medical fees for hospitals and his or her insurance contract information in the insurance company are automatically authenticated and the insurance money is automatically paid to the policyholder even if the payment of the insurance money is not demanded first.

"This is the first case where the insurance industry is fully connected with fintech and introduces a new service," said Kim Wook, a senior managing director of digital innovation at Kyobo Life. “If the service is commercialized in the future, we will be able to provide a better service by utilizing various fintech technologies."

The Kyobo Life Consortium will conclude an agreement with major hospitals in the Seoul metropolitan area and conduct a pilot project targeting small amounts of insurance money under 300,000 won (US$270) by the end of this year. After a stabilization phase in the future, Kyobo Life plans to expand its services to all Kyobo Life customers across the nation.

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