Singapore Press Holdings (“SPH”), NTUC Income, and LumenLab, MetLife's Asia innovation center, have agreed to apply blockchain technology, “Lifechain,” to automate the life insurance claim process.
In a statement, the companies explained that Lifechain, developed by LumenLab, enables SPH to securely encrypt and share verification data used for obituary placement with income to kick-start the claim process.
Lifechain will begin piloting by targeting 1,000 randomly selected NTUC Income life insurance policyholders.
During the pilot, family members who place obituaries in The Straits Times will be informed about Lifechain. Upon their consent, the deceased's National Registration Identity Card (“NRIC”) number will be submitted into Lifechain as hashed data to trigger a search for a matching life insurance policy. When a match is found, SPH will inform family members within one working day, while Lifechain will send an automatic notification to NTUC Income via email to initiate the claims process.
Family members also will be informed by SPH when a match is not found so that they can proceed to make checks and file claims with their life insurers accordingly.
Julian Tan, chief of digital business of SPH, said, “SPH hopes to expand Lifechain to include more insurers in time to come to bring greater convenience to family members attending to the deceased's administrative matters securely. This initiative is also in line with our push for the digital business, tapping on innovation and growing our partnerships to serve our customers better. SPH aims to be the go-to partner for insurers to reach policyholders' beneficiaries, as soon as advertisers place an obituary in the future.”
Peter Tay, chief operating officer at NTUC Income's Digital Transformation Office (“DTO”), said, “At Income, we are constantly looking to enhance customers' experience with insurance. Through technology and innovations, we aim to influence the way that customers fact-find, inquire, purchase, claims, and engage with us. Blockchain technology offers greater transparency, enhanced security, improved traceability, efficiency, and speed of transactions. These value propositions resonate with Income and we are excited to be the first insurer to come on-board Lifechain. We believe it will empower us to offer optimal protection of our policyholders' personal information while enhancing their customer experience with Income.”
Zia Zaman, chief innovation officer of MetLife Asia and chief executive officer of LumenLab, said, “By making the customer experience simpler, this SPH – NTUC Income – LumenLab pilot yet again demonstrates the potential of blockchain to shape the future of insurance.”
Victoria Spears
Victoria Prussen Spears is senior vice president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Spears was an attorney at a leading New York City law firm before joining Meyerowitz Communications. She may be contacted at [email protected].