Insurwave, a blockchain platform to support marine hull insurance, is now in operation, being used by the marine industry to transform how they manage risk across their organisation, and how they work with brokers and (re)insurers.

Insurwave, built by a joint venture between EY and Guardtime, leverages blockchain and distributed ledger technologies Microsoft Azure infrastructure and ACORD data standards.

It will support more than half a million automated ledger transactions and help manage risk for more than 1,000 commercial vessels in the first year. By connecting participants in a secure, private network with an accurate, immutable audit trail and services to execute processes, the platform establishes a first of its kind digital insurance value chain.

A.P. Moller - Maersk contributed to the development of the blockchain technology as a pilot client and remains on the platform with its marine hull portfolio.

“It is a proud moment for a number of heavy weight industry participants to be live with a genuine end-to-end blockchain platform in the specialty insurance market. To move from proof of concept just a year ago to a fully functioning platform that is delivering immediate value to clients feels exceptional,” Shaun Crawford, EY Global Insurance Leader, said.

The first phase of Insurwave rollout is focused on marine insurance, and EY, Guardtime and Microsoft plan to roll it out to other types of business insurance for the marine cargo, global logistics, aviation and energy sectors.

Ronald Attard, EY Malta Managing Partner, said: “Blockchain is now at the centre stage of technological innovation with the potential to impact today’s, and even more so, tomorrow’s business processes and functions. That blockchain impacts your business is now a question of when, not if."

For more information, please see ey.com/insurance_blockchain.