China Construction Bank (Asia) Corporation Limited (CCB (Asia)), the retail and commercial business platform of China Construction Bank Corporation, and tech giant IBM have announced a new blockchain-powered bancassurance project in Hong Kong.
Bancassurance is an arrangement in which a bank and an insurance company form a distribution partnership. Under this arrangement, the bank’s sales associates sell the insurance company’s products to the bank's client base and through the bank’s channels. This, however, faces a number of challenges including delays in data transmission or incomplete information.
The new solution is designed to streamline CCB (Asia)’s bancassurance process and enhance customer experience and the quality of services delivered through faster transaction processing time and increased transparency. It is built on the IBM Blockchain Platform.
With this platform, CCB (Asia) and all parties on the blockchain have a real-time shared view of required policy data, reducing the need for time-consuming status checks which can delay processing time. Using a shared, immutable ledger for recording transactions, it helps in establishing accountability and transparency among network participants and enables CCB (Asia) and its partner insurers to deliver the services more efficiently.
“Blockchain enables businesses to transact with less friction and more trust. Working with local clients and partners across the insurance industry ecosystem, IBM helps businesses digitize transactions, bring a fundamental change in time and cost,” said Mr. Francis Ngai, general manager at IBM Hong Kong. “In working with CCB (Asia) and the partner insurers, we have seen how the technology is disrupting traditional business processes. This work sets a standard for local banking and financial institutions in the future.”
According to the official release, the solution is currently being tested with insurance providers and their clients and is expected to be available in the third quarter of this year.
“After the successful launch of this blockchain-enabled bancassurance project, we plan to extend our experience to other insurance partners in order to optimise our overall bancassurance business,” Mr. Guo Zhipeng, Deputy Chief Executive of CCB (Asia) said.
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