US-based MetLife partners Singapore firms to simplify insurance claims with blockchain

LumenLab, the Asia innovation center of life insurance company MetLife, announced a collaboration with Singapore insurance cooperative NTUC Income and media organization Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) to automate the life insurance claim process for bereaved families using blockchain.

From left: LumenLab CEO Zia Zaman, SPH chief of digital business Julian Tan, and NTUC Income chief operating officer Peter Tay / Photo credit: SPH

Developed by LumenLab, the “Lifechain” technology will enable SPH to encrypt and share verification data from obituary placements, which are used by NTUC Income to start the insurance claim process. The companies plan to pilot the technology this month, targeting 1,000 randomly selected policyholders.

During the pilot, Lifechain will be introduced to family members of the deceased who place obituaries on The Straits Times. With their consent, the National Registration Identity Card of the deceased will be submitted into Lifechain as hashed data to trigger a search for a matching insurance policy. SPH will then inform the family if a match is found, while Lifechain will send a notification to NTUC Income to start the claim process.

“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,” said Julian Tan, chief of digital business of SPH.