Page 38 - Life Insurance Today February 2018

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Insurers planning to start blockchain project to control
HDFC makes Rs. 5.3k cr
expenses
profit from listing of life
Many Indian insurers, including HDFC provide a record of information that can
insurance biz Life, India First Life and Canara HSBC be accessed in a secure manner.
OBC, have begun the "The insurance industry
country's first blockchain can leverage blockchain
project in the financial technology in a significant
services industry to help way to transform their
rein in costs for compa- processes across the in-
nies running medical tests surance value chain, such
and evaluations, and to
as claim fraud detection
ensure confidentiality and security of
and claim settlement," said RM
the data collected from individuals.
HDFC has said that it has made a Vishakha, CEO, IndiaFirst Life Insur-
profit of Rs 5,250 crore in the third These companies have tied up with ance. "Blockchain technology will also
quarter of Financial Year 2018 by IBM and Cateina Technologies to cre- help enhance customer experience
selling shares of HDFC Standard Life ate a blockchain-based solution. The and impact distribution efficiencies."
through IPO. In the same quarter concept of blockchain is based on dis- Blockchain is expected to reduce op-
last year, HDFC had made a profit of tributed ledger technology, and helps erational costs and improving effi-
participants to work on common areas
only Rs 3 crore from sale of invest- ciency. Although the technology is still
of interest. It is expected to help in
ments. in its nascent stages of commercial
improving business by providing cus-
deployment, insurers say there is a
tomer KYC, claims history, medical
In a statement to the stock ex- need to form policies and procedures
records, and agent track records while
changes, HDFC said that it had de- to ensure that personally identifiable
flagging fraudulent transactions.
cided to use the one-off pretax information and health information
gains from the proceeds of the IPO "Blockchain technology has the poten- are always protected.
tial to change the way financial services
to shore up its provision and contin- "This platform will give insurance com-
transactions are carried out," said
gency account to build a buffer panies the option of cutting down on
against contingency risk in future. Subrat Mohanty - senior executive vice- operational costs on getting information
president, head-strategy, HDFC Life. that is core to the underwriting process
"It also proposed to make an addi- Life insurers spend a lot of time and ef- in a trusted manner by keeping in line
tional special provision of Rs 1,575 fort in identifying and validating records with the privacy regulations. On scaling
crore, being 30% of pre-tax gains on multiple times for the same customer. up, if we can create social scorecards of
Currently, each insurance company in medical providers then one can actually
this transaction towards standard
India conducts medical tests for poten- rate them for future customer's refer-
assets and other contingencies,"
the company said. tial customers. Mohanty said blockchain ence," said Jitan Chandnani, partner,
would reduce these inefficiencies and Blockchain Leader, IBM.
38 February 2018 Life Insurance Today

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