One of the first industries to adopt blockchain was the financial sector with the technology speeding up and simplifying cross-border payments. The majority of banking systems are built on a centralised database, meaning all information is stored in one place – potentially making them more prone to cyber attacks.
Lloyds of London COO Shirine Khoury-Haq told us at the CIO Summit 2017 that she thought blockchain and AI were the emerging technology trends that would have the biggest impact on Lloyds and the financial sector.
Khoury-Haq added that she regularly engages with fintech and insuretech companies to bring new ideas to the issues they are trying to solve, such as security, with the target operating model (TOM), research and innovation team exploring developments which might affect how the market works in the future.
“TOM has delivered three blockchain proofs of concept to provide better information about how the technology works and identify potential applications in the market,” Khoury-Haq said.
“It has also sponsored a study into the potential application of smart contracts in the London wholesale insurance markets in order to streamline processing, slash costs, improve the client experience, reduce risk and deliver new products.”