For this week’s episode, we had the opportunity to speak to Antonio Di Marzo, Product Owner - Commercial Insurance at B3i, at the B3i headquarters in Zurich. Antonio provides an excellent insight into B3i’s upcoming project – commercial insurance on the blockchain which was announced in September this year at the ‘Rendez-Vous de Septembre’. If you haven’t listened to the earlier News Flash episode regarding this announcement, now is a good time to do so!

Prior to his current role at B3i, Antonio spent over ten years at Generali Global Corporate and Commercial. During his time at Generali, he was involved in building a global platform and he feels deploying this platform across various countries was the biggest challenge he faced. Antonio brings this experience of leading digital transformation and dealing with different cultures to B3i.

 

What is blockchain?

“Blockchain is a catalyst (for industry); this technology is bringing people together, empowering people and enabling transformation.”

Antonio believes there is no set definition for blockchain because the technology is evolving rapidly. He compares blockchain today to the internet in the 1990’s – there is lack of clarity regarding a definition but there is a clear indication that the technology has the potential to increase customer satisfaction, increase industry profitability and increase insurance penetration.

“Blockchain has the potential to empower people to challenge the status quo. Insurance is an enabler for human beings.”

Antonio recognizes that insurance provides peace of mind, encourages constructive risk-taking and provides a cushion for the bad times. Furthermore, he believes blockchain can help increase insurance penetration. This sentiment is shared by many others at B3i  – Philipp Tölle, Co-Architect at B3i, was recently interviewed and he spoke along similar lines.

“Blockchain is bringing trust, integration and automation.”

Antonio stresses that prior to the advent of blockchain, participants in the insurance industry were working in silos.The breakthrough that blockchain has provided is a shift in the industry mindset towards working in ecosystems.

 

Foundations of B3i

The Lloyd's – B3i connect

“Lloyds is an example of success. However, it is not technology enabled, it is human being enabled.”

Following a question about Lloyds offering a (physical) insurance ecosystem, Antonio clarified his earlier statement about blockchain enabling ecosystems in the insurance industry.

Although he acknowledges that Lloyds has spread to various countries and it serves as an excellent model since all competitors behave in a similar way, he asserts that B3i wishes to build several ecosystems that are interconnected and allow easy integration of new ecosystems.

“What if we copy the Lloyds mindset and spread (the model) using a technology that can support such activity?”

 

Enter B3i

“(B3i was formed due to) the willingness to check if this technology (blockchain) was an enabler for the insurance industry.”

Antonio explains that that the founding members of B3i recognized that they all wanted to seriously explore what blockchain was capable of – hence, it was natural to join forces. Even though each founding member was capable of exploring bloc...