Kyobo Life Insurance has announced that it has been selected to help operate the South Korean government’s pilot blockchain project, which will act as a foundation for the adoption of internet of things (IoT) technology.
The project, which is spearheaded by the National Information Society Agency under the management of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, is the initial stage of the government’s push to promote the IoT. The agency has formed a consortium to implement the project, composed of Kyobo, insurtech specialist D. Lemon, blockchain technology firm theloop, and hospital and medical record service provider One.
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The consortium will focus on developing a service that allows automatic payments of small insurance money such as indemnity insurance payouts, to policyholders by using blockchain and simple IoT authentication technology, reports
Business Korea. Previously, policyholders needed to submit various supporting documents when making a claim. The blockchain project aims to streamline and automate the validation and authentication process to make claims faster and easier.
“This is the first case where the insurance industry is fully connected with fintech and introduces a new service,” said Kim Wook, senior managing director of digital innovation at Kyobo Life. “If the service is commercialized in the future, we will be able to provide a better service by utilizing various fintech technologies.”
The project consortium is currently finalizing an agreement with major hospitals in Seoul to conduct a test using small insurance claims of around KRW300,000 (US$270). The test is expected to be initiated by the end of this year, and, according to Kyobo, may be offered to all its customers if it is deemed a success.
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