The American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS), a not-for-profit insurance advisory organization, has announced its collaboration with tech giant IBM to automate insurance regulatory reporting using blockchain technology.

Built on IBM Blockchain using the open source Hyperledger Fabric, the open Insurance Data Link or “openIDL” will help the AAIS to streamline regulatory and compliance requirements while improving efficiency and accuracy for both insurers and state insurance departments.

Sandip Patel, general manager, IBM Global Insurance Industry, believes that simplifying insurance regulatory reporting using blockchain technology will create “dynamic shifts in efficiency and provide the industry with new insights that will even benefit consumers

“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,” Patel added.

By consolidating and analyzing data, AAIS generates loss reports and rating information for insurance carriers, as well as state insurance regulators. This data needs to be shared among multiple parties in a safe, secure manner, making it an ideal use of blockchain. openIDL is the first open blockchain platform focused on the collection and sharing of statistical data between insurance carriers and regulators.

Using the platform, insurers would be able to contribute data directly onto a secure and immutable blockchain to satisfy state regulatory requirements. Regulators are provided permissioned access to view only the information they need, while participating carriers would be able to view their own data profile to understand how they compare to the market.

"We recognized 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,” AAIS CEO Ed Kelly.

The platform is currently in pilot and a number of major insurers are in the process of being onboarded to the blockchain platform, AAIS said.