The initiative is led by ANIA (National Association of Insurance Companies), with the collaboration of Reply, CeTIF (Research Centre on Technology, Innovation and Financial Services) - Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan and with the participation of IVASS (Institute for Insurance Supervision) on the Scientific Committee.

The selected project is an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service, aimed at resolving disputes between customers and insurance companies. The project falls within the scope of the Insurance Blockchain Sandbox, a unique and controlled virtual place designed for experimenting with highly innovative, real use cases with the active participation of the companies, consumers and different entities who take part in the insurance process.

The work carried out in the Sandbox is directed and supervised by a Scientific Committee composed of representatives of IVASS, ANIA, CeTIF - Università Cattolica, Reply and the companies and intermediaries involved in the experiment. The Sandbox testing should provide clear benefits for those participating in the Blockchain technology; they will be in a position to anticipate market development factors, future regulatory requirements and the impact on consumer protection and supervisory activities.

The main phases of the ADR project involve the exchange of the amounts entered into the platform by the counterparties for the resolution of a legal dispute, through a blind auction mechanism, adjusted on the basis of the parameters defined for the experiment, accepted by the customer/legal representative and guaranteed by a Trusted Smart Contract based on Blockchain (an information protocol that facilitates the execution of a contract).

The project includes the participation of Axa, Cargeas-Cardif, Cattolica, Generali, Helvetia, Reale ITES GEIE, Sara and Zurich insurance companies. ANIA President Maria Bianca Farina says: “Thanks to this initiative we intend to experiment in a concrete and effective manner with the potential offered by the Blockchain technology, applying it to a first use case highly beneficial to our sector. This will allow us to implement and take advantage of the benefits identified during the experiment to facilitate the operation of all the companies. Our ambition is to continue with other projects to enable us to make the use of such a powerful technology practical and effective, not only for insurance companies but for the whole market.”