Allianz picks Symbiont for ILS smart contracts

Allianz has selected Symbiont to model a bilateral catastrophe swap based on blockchain technology. The smart contract pioneer reportedly demonstrated a fully modelled catastrophe swap in under two weeks after administrative components had been completed. As we reported yesterday, Allianz expects the significantly shorter settlement period the technology can deliver to stimulate more trading in catastrophe bonds. The insurer has been responsible for issuing a large share of the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market which incorporates catastrophe bonds since it began in the early 2000s. Symbiont, which issued the first ever Smart Securities in August 2015, is also using blockchain technology to overhaul the global syndicated loans market, a project for which it teamed up with Ipreo in March.

Allianz Group, one of the world’s biggests insurance companies, has partnered with Symbiont to model a bilateral catastrophe swap on a Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Read this Term. After the administrative components were completed, Symbiont demonstrated a fully modeled catastrophe swap in less than two weeks.

Catastrophe swaps offer concentrated exposure to insured weather disasters to risk seeking investors. The firms say that smart contracts can reduce the time and costs of managing catastrophe swaps, can lower the cost of issuance of insurance linked securities and provide a greater volume and diversity.

“Our mission has always been to work with partners who are equally dedicated and ready to deliver faster, more convenient services to our customers,“ said Fei Zhang, Head of Blockchain at Allianz SE. “Embracing blockchain and Smart Contract Smart Contract A smart contract is a piece of software that automatically executes a pre-determined set of actions when a certain set of criteria or met. One of the key tenets of smart contracts is their ability to perform credible transactions without third parties and are self-executing, with their conditions written into the lines of code that form themAdditionally, these transactions are both trackable and irreversible. For example, a smart contract could be used to give royalty payouts to a musical artist A smart contract is a piece of software that automatically executes a pre-determined set of actions when a certain set of criteria or met. One of the key tenets of smart contracts is their ability to perform credible transactions without third parties and are self-executing, with their conditions written into the lines of code that form themAdditionally, these transactions are both trackable and irreversible. For example, a smart contract could be used to give royalty payouts to a musical artist Read this Term technology will be the latest example of Allianz’ long-standing tradition of innovation.”

“Because we’re purpose-built for financial markets and don’t rely on open source, we didn’t have any issues capturing all of the features of these complex instruments,” said Louis Stone, Managing Director of Global Business Development at Symbiont. “We’re just scratching the surface of what Symbiont can provide for the global insurance markets.”

Back in March we reported that Ipreo and Symbiont are creating a new venture to overhaul the costly manual processing in the $3 trillion global syndicated loans market.