Insurance Ratings Bureau Pilots IBM Blockchain for Automatic Reporting

The American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS) is turning to the IBM Blockchain platform to support a new automated insurance reporting tool, the organization announced Wednesday.

Built on IBM Blockchain using Hyperledger Fabric, the open Insurance Data Link (openIDL) system is aimed to simplify regulatory reporting by allowing insurance carriers to store data on a permissioned blockchain for regulators to view on an as-needed basis, a press release says.

The system would essentially streamline the association's current mission to consolidate and report its members' insurance carrier rating data to various state-level Departments of Insurance.

IBM industry academy member Craig Bedell told CoinDesk in an email that AAIS specifically chose IBM Blockchain due to both the open-source nature of Hyperledger Fabric and the enterprise-level platform that the computing giant provides.

At present, AAIS submits either monthly or quarterly reports for each member insurer, depending on state laws. However, the new system, which is currently in a pilot phase, would allow AAIS to deprecate its data reporting role, as carriers would directly store their own data on the blockchain. Regulators would then be able to examine the information at any time, rather than waiting for a report to arrive.

AAIS chief executive Ed Kelly said in the press release that the organization recognizes "the potential for blockchain to streamline the regulatory reporting process for our member carriers, as well as the opportunity to improve security, accessibility and accuracy of data for regulators."

"Hyperledger Fabric's support for private and confidential transactions allows insurers to share data with the network, knowing that they own their data and have control over who has access to it," said IBM Global Insurance Industry global manager Sandip Patel.

"This is an exciting example of how blockchain can bring together an entire ecosystem of users and allow information to be shared in new ways to drive real business results," he said.

Although in the pilot phase, Bedell said that the platform is already "open for business." Insurance carriers are already being onboarded and the organizations are working to bring on state Departments of Insurance as well.

IBM image via Shutterstock