Deloitte Selected by The Institutes RiskBlock™ Alliance to Accelerate Blockchain Application Development and Expansion into Canada

MALVERN, Pa., Sept. 25, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Institutes RiskBlock™ Alliance, a blockchain consortium representing 31 risk management and insurance companies, announced today that it has selected global professional-services organization Deloitte to help advance its blockchain application and product-development efforts. Deloitte will leverage its industry-leading digital capabilities to help the RiskBlock Alliance implement and test multiple products that will be brought to market by the end of 2018.

Deloitte will also help the RiskBlock Alliance expand the consortium into Canada, the first piece of a planned international expansion. Over the next few months, and with Deloitte's strategic support, the RiskBlock Alliance will establish a legal entity in Canada and begin working with Canadian-based property-casualty and life/annuity insurers. The expansion will help the RiskBlock Alliance deliver scalable blockchain solutions across the global insurance industry.

Under this engagement, Deloitte will be responsible for the methodology, prioritization and development of a number of blockchain applications for RiskBlock Alliance members. The applications will address different aspects of the insurance transaction life cycle, ranging from underwriting to claims processing. Each new app will be provided via Canopy, the industry's first end-to-end reusable blockchain framework, and will focus on enhancing efficiency and lowering transaction costs for the benefit of policyholders. Canopy is being built exclusively for the RiskBlock Alliance on R3's Corda platform.

"Deloitte has established itself as a leader in blockchain and distributed ledger technology and has strong global relationships with both blockchain and insurance organizations," said Christopher G. McDaniel, president of The Institutes RiskBlock Alliance. "It's for those reasons that Deloitte makes an ideal collaborator for us as we build blockchain applications for the insurance industry around the world. We are excited to see what we can accomplish together."

Deloitte has worked with the RiskBlock Alliance since its initial launch in July 2017, and today's announcement expands its scope significantly.

"Our goal matches The Institutes' own expectations—the platform will serve as the home base for all things insurtech for the global insurance industry in the years ahead," said Linda Pawczuk, a principal and the financial services blockchain leader at Deloitte Consulting LLP. "At Deloitte, we have 1,500 blockchain practitioners in 33 countries across 23 industries dedicated to discovering how distributed ledger technology can improve different areas of the economy. We're thrilled to have the opportunity to broaden our role globally and begin building concrete applications for the market."

Ted Epps, a principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP and insurance blockchain practice leader added: "The strategic value of the RiskBlock Alliance is its ability to connect a diverse set of insurance industry stakeholders through a shared network. The expansion effort our team at Deloitte is spearheading will accelerate the consortium's global reach and take blockchain to the next level in the insurance industry—and financial services more broadly."

In the past year, Deloitte has been profiled by industry analysts Constellation Research for having the most comprehensive blockchain effort of any professional services organization. It has also been recognized as a leader in providing clients with end-to-end blockchain services across innovation and ideation, strategy formulation, prototyping, and production build.

The RiskBlock Alliance is preparing to launch blockchain-based applications, including a proof of insurance application, a first notice of loss data-sharing process and a smart-contract-enabled subrogation tool. The subrogation tool will be built by Deloitte and use smart contracts to facilitate the netting of members' payments and improve the efficiency of claims processing payment and accounting.

"The RiskBlock Alliance isn't concerned with theoretical experiments. We're completely focused on rapidly delivering real production applications to the industry," continued McDaniel. "With the help of Deloitte, we're building out a virtual blockchain application factory that members can use immediately for real business needs."

More information is available at http://www.TheInstitutes.org/RiskBlock.

About The Institutes | Risk and Insurance Knowledge Group
The Institutes are committed to meeting the evolving professional development needs of the risk management and insurance industry. We prepare people to fulfill their professional and ethical responsibilities via innovative education, research, networking and career resources. We offer 28 professional and associate designations, including the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU®) designation, along with introductory, foundational and leadership programs, online and continuing education courses, custom solutions, and assessment tools.

About The Institutes RiskBlock Alliance
The Institutes RiskBlock Alliance is the risk management and insurance industry's first enterprise-level blockchain consortium that brings together industry experts and developers to advance insurance-specific use cases via RiskBlock's interoperable blockchain architecture. RiskBlock is committed to equipping organizations to work together to inspire product innovation, enable efficiencies, and open new technological frontiers. Learn more at http://www.TheInstitutes.org/RiskBlock.

About Deloitte
Deloitte provides industry-leading audit, consulting, tax and advisory services to many of the world's most admired brands, including more than 85 percent of the Fortune 500 and more than 6,000 private and middle market companies. Our people work across more than 20 industry sectors to make an impact that matters — delivering measurable and lasting results that help reinforce public trust in our capital markets, inspire clients to see challenges as opportunities to transform and thrive, and help lead the way toward a stronger economy and a healthy society. Deloitte is proud to be part of the largest global professional services network serving our clients in the markets that are most important to them.

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