Today, India-based business process management (BPM) firm WNS announced the launch of its blockchain-based insurance risk syndication solution, the WNS VeriChain.
WNS is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and had revenues of $809 million in 2019. The company has over 42,000 employees working at 61 ‘delivery centers’ in 16 countries and services over 200 Fortune 500 companies.
Among the several industries it serves, WNS has about 30 insurance and reinsurance clients and provides end-to-end solutions across the entire value chain. The VeriChain solution, based on Hyperledger Fabric, will digitalize processes and improve efficiency and profitability for all stakeholders.
When the potential loss is too large for a single underwriter, an insurance risk is often syndicated amongst multiple insurers. With these multi-party transactions, it becomes difficult to split the premiums, communicate policy changes and manage the claims process, leading to disputes and errors.
WNS says VeriChain will offer a ‘single view of truth’ to all stakeholders in the syndicate, including brokers, carriers, and customers. Blockchain, as an immutable ledger, will eliminate the risk of errors and reduce or eliminate reconciliation times.
“At WNS, we are focused on leveraging emerging technologies like Blockchain to offer state-of-the-art digital solutions that address critical business challenges faced by our clients,” said Keshav Murugesh, Group CEO of WNS.
“WNS will continue to make strategic investments in new-age technologies with a goal of “co-creating” solutions designed to help our clients transform their businesses and create competitive advantage in their respective markets,” Murugesh added.
Several companies are trialing blockchain for insurance, with two large groups of insurers. The Institutes RiskStream Alliance (previously RiskBlock) is one of the high-profile blockchain initiatives with a large proportion of U.S. insurers as members. It is working on several use cases and is about to roll out First Notice of Loss for auto accidents as well as Proof of Insurance.
B3i is another blockchain startup owned by 18 major insurers. It has launched its Property Catastrophe Excess of Loss Reinsurance (CAT XL) product on the Corda Network.
