Spreading our wings beyond the worksite

Aflac is now providing access to our important coverage outside of the worksite with consumer directed products.

• Products include dental (dental, vision, hearing), accident, critical illness and cancer.

• Polices are self-billed via credit card or ACH.

• Products are offered via a new proprietary digital platform with 100% online journey available.

• Co-branded sites can be set up for partners and their clients or APIs can be used to integrate with existing platforms.

For details on our new consumer directed strategy, contact Ward Garrett at wgarrett@aflac.com.

NISH KOTECHA CHAIRMAN, FINBOOT

mainstream of financial services, but insurance is slow to catch up.

T71000OK. In Oregon, Policy T71000OR.

In Pennsylvania, Policies T71100PA - T71400PA. In Texas, Policy T71000TXR. Cancer/Specified Disease - Policy Series T70000 (Not available in New York ). In Arkansas, Policy T70000ARR. In Idaho, Policy T70000ID. In Oklahoma, Policy T70000OK. In Oregon, Policy T70000OR. In Pennsylvania, Policy T70000PA. In Texas, Policy T70000TX. In Virginia, policies T70000VA & T70000GVA.

Coverage is underwritten by Tier One Insurance Company. NOTICE: The coverage offered is not a qualified health plan (QHP) under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and is not required to satisfy essential health benefits mandates of the ACA. The coverage provides limited benefits. Aflac WWHQ | 1932 Wynnton Road Columbus, GA 31999 This is a brief product overview only. Coverage may not be available in all states. Policies and riders may also contain a waiting period. Refer to the exact policies and riders for benefit details, definitions, limitations and exclusions.

Z2201009 EXP 10/23 frequently referred to as ‘distributed ledger’ technology (DLT), and it’s this that has the power to reshape the insurance landscape.

DLT has existed for more than a decade and has been widely adopted within the

“Adoption within insurance firms has certainly been slower than in similar industries, but the tide is turning and we are now seeing more insurance firms examining ways that DLT can support their business growth,” explains Richard Dhuny, UK DLT and Crypto Lead at digital transformation specialists GFT. “One of the main drivers for this is that insurers are beginning to look beyond DLT as an isolated enterprise technology. Instead, they are starting to understand where DLT’s value truly lies – as a catalyst for business ecosystem transformation.”

Dhuny believes that DLT could be used for know-your-customer (KYC) protocols to share data within a private blockchain, meaning that customers only need to submit information once, as well as for fraud detection, pricing, claims handling and underwriting.

Business leaders not fully embracing blockchain

One of the reasons that insurance has not fully embraced blockchain is an apparent hesitancy caused by a lack of understanding around the benefits it can bring. According to market research company GlobalData, a fifth of business leaders think blockchain is “all hype and no substance” with better-understood technologies –like artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity and cloud computing –more likely to solicit positive reactions.

“Blockchain has often been a poorly defined and misunderstood topic,” says Benjamin Hatton, Insurance Analyst at GlobalData. “Its association with the world of cryptocurrencies and digital assets has left it with a poor reputation among many. Although this may set back the development and implementation of blockchain in insurance, use cases will remain and continue to emerge in the future. As regulation is

GFT in 60 seconds

gradually introduced and strengthened within the space, some firms may get the confidence in the technology they need to reconsider the power of blockchain.”

Despite the seemingly tentative approach to blockchain, the hesitancy revealed by the research is not necessarily borne out by the numbers. According to forecasts from several industry observers, the value of the blockchain in the insurance market is set to skyrocket – from a present valuation of a few hundred million dollars to US$20-30bn by the end of the decade.

Unleashing the potential of blockchain in insurance

Once we overcome the knowledge gap that seems to persist, there are opportunities to be realised: blockchain will make life more convenient for consumers; it will drive efficiencies and unlock new revenue streams for insurers; and it will make the entire process more transparent for all parties.

Richard Dhuny of GFT continues: “Within the insurance sector, there are some really interesting blockchain applications coming from innovative providers that support more robust data infrastructures, less vulnerable to fraud or human error, as well as delivering greener IT practices.

“US insurance provider Lemonade, for instance, recently founded the Crypto Climate Coalition alongside other providers. The coalition functions as a decentralised autonomous organisation aimed at building and distributing at-cost parametric weather insurance for farmers and livestock keepers in emerging markets.

“One key innovation is that Lemonade receives granular weather insights from its partner network, generating models that can be programmed into smart contracts that automatically estimate the accurate premium for insuring crops based on the field’s location, size and topography. By parametrically measuring rainfall amounts in an insured field, smart contracts can also automatically trigger flood or drought claims, paying farmers without them even needing to file a claim.”

And Finboot’s Nish Kotecha is brimming with enthusiasm about a blockchain future: “Consider a world where each physical asset has its digital twin stored on a blockchain: the ownership can be easily transferred, and each activity is immutably recorded. This digital passport is then used for the provision of insurance, which is based on facts rather than perception of the asset and its historical uses and claims. If insurance provision can be made more accurate, surely it can be made cheaper and more accessible while saving time, money and resources for insurance companies?

“If insurers can track the asset, not the consumer, we have the ability to embed insurance along with the asset, rather than relying on each new owner to update the insurer on the condition or use of the asset. This has the ability to change the insurance industry forever.”