Blockchain Initiative, B3i, Deploys Cat Excess of Loss Product for January Renewals

B3i announced it has released the latest version of its property catastrophe excess of loss (XoL) reinsurance application in time for the January 2020 renewals.

The product enables customers and their counterparties to negotiate terms, agree on rates and complete contract placements for the contract renewals, said B3i, the the insurance and reinsurance industry’s blockchain initiative.

Historically this multiparty process has been facilitated by email with inherent risks and inefficiencies around version control, data integrity (transposition errors), document management and security, explained B3i. However, the immutability of contracts placed via this product, enabled by B3i’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) , “significantly improves contract certainty, reduces operational risk and administrative costs,” the backers claim.

Through this year-end renewal, several B3i customers intend benchmarking the effects of these improvements, which are expected to reduce the back-office administrative burdens, possibly reducing the number of emails sent by more than tenfold.

The B3i Cat XoL product has the ability to cover the majority of Cat XoL contracts which are transacted in the market today, providing customers with the ability to negotiate and manage contract workflows on the B3i platform.

Since the release of v1.0 to B3i community members in July 2019, B3i has incorporated a significant number of additional functionalities, such as advanced property cat XoL contract structuring and the ability to add an unlimited number of layers and nested sections. Customers can now make use of a flexible definition of scope of coverage, with inclusions and exclusions.

In addition, customers have the ability to perform contract negotiation version comparisons, further ensuring contract certainty. The existing messaging system has been further enhanced to include bound context.

Additional functions of v1.1 include:

• Advanced Property CAT XoL contract structuring
• Unlimited number of layers and nested sections
• Flexible definition of Scope of Coverage, with inclusions and exclusions
• Basic portfolio management functionality
• Lead/quoting market placement
• Negotiation orchestrations
• Contract negotiation version comparison
• Follow market placement
• Endorsements
• Contract audit trail and lifecycle
• Placement status overview
• Clause library
• Contract export in PDF
• Enhanced messaging with bound context
• Document sharing.

“Everybody in B3i is very excited and proud to ship this product to our customers. We see this product as much more than a single insurance application; it is the first step of a whole family of B3i and partner products,” said Chief Product Officer, Sylvain De Crom, in a statement.

He said the product will be extended by adding technical accounting and claims as well as expanded product range.

“In future, we can expect to see new products on our network which are the result of collaborative development with partners,” commented John Carolin, B3i chief executive officer.

Shareholders are Achmea, Aegon, Ageas, Allianz, AXA, China Pacific Insurance Company, Deutsche Rück, Generali, Hannover Re, IRB Brasil Re, Liberty Mutual, Mapfre Re, Munich Re, SBI Group, SCOR, Swiss Re, Tokio Marine, VIG Re, and Zurich Insurance Group.

B3i is a global initiative supported by 19 major insurance industry investors and a diverse community currently comprising over 40 companies. B3i was founded in October 2016 as an insurance industry consortium, which then formed B3i Services AG as an independent company.

Source: B3i