Marsh has teamed up with clients and insurers AIG and Euler Hermes to pilot placement of US trade credit policies on a blockchain-based platform.

The Risk Exchange platform, which provides real-time information and feedback on the placement and binding process, was proposed by a “hackathon” team and developed by Marsh Digital Labs, which was set up last year as an incubator program.

Marsh JLT Specialty Global Credit Specialties Leader Nick Robson, says digitising invoices, payments and other trade and insurance documents streamlines the trade credit placement process, driving efficiencies.

“Digital platforms powered by blockchain are ideally suited for organisations that either generate or finance large amounts of account receivables,” he said.

The customers involved in the project are US-based chemical company Dow Inc and vacuum and kitchen appliance manufacturer SharkNinja.

Blockchain’s digital ledger of transactions are visible to parties involved and remove layers of double-checking and verification. The technology emerged about a decade ago and is forecast to become more widely used by banks and insurers.

“Not only can clients experience a more organised, digitised placement process on the blockchain platform, but also one with greater transparency, security and collaboration among all parties involved,” Sastry Durvasula, Marsh Chief Digital Officer and Chief Data and Analytics Officer, says.