MetLife Builds First Automated Blockchain Insurance Solution

LumenLab, the “pioneers for disruptive innovation” under MetLife, has started testing Vitana, the first ever automated insurance solution on the blockchain, we’ve learned via a press release.

Automated Insurance Claims

The company is based in Singapore, in which one in five pregnant women experience gestational diabetes. Vitana provides automatic insurance payments to affected pregnant women without needing to make a claim.

Vitana works by connecting to a user’s medical records via an app on their mobile device. Policies are issued autonomously in minutes following diagnosis.

Zia Zaman, MetLife’s CIO in Asia and CEO of LumenLab, commented on the potential for blockchain in the insurance space:

“Vitana embodies MetLife’s commitment to its customers. In today’s world, people expect experiences to be simple, automated, and digital. We saw an opportunity to test how blockchain can make insurance more seamless and we’ve partnered with some of the best companies in their fields to create a blueprint to launch new parametric insurance products in the future.”

The innovative product also provides increased security for medical records, meaning insurance companies won’t need to access medical data to validate the claim.

Suggested Reading : Learn more about blockchain technology in our beginner’s guide.

About LumenLab

Vitana was built in part by SwissRe, Cognizant, and Vault Dragon alongside LumenLab. SwissRe designed the product, Cognizant provided the blockchain expertise, and Vault Dragon helped provide electronic medical records with their specialists.

LumenLab developed the project under the “regulatory sandbox”, an incubator funded by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS.) Vitana was highlighted as one of the best projects to come from the sandbox in MAS’ annual report.

Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer at MAS had this to say:

“Experimentation is crucial to invent and create the future. We are glad that the sandbox has enabled LumenLab to jumpstart an innovative experiment within safe boundaries, to understand if it could effectively address existing pain points of both the insured and insurer, before rolling it out on a broader scale”

Users can download Vitana on the Apple App Store, though there isn’t a Google Play release as of this writing. Affected customers can receive up to 2,500 SGD in coverage. LumenLab is collaborating with the Singapore Medical Group Women’s Health, among other clinics, in running a six month test period. The test will offer Vitana to patients within their initial 23 weeks of pregnancy.