DB Insurance Accelerates 'Open Innovation'... Industry's First Open Platform Unveiled (Comprehensive)

Providing Insurance Services in Fintech Based on OpenAPI

DB Insurance

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] DB Insurance has introduced the first open platform service in the insurance industry.

Having led the development of 'Insurtech (insurance + technology)' such as AI-based standard settlement calculation systems and automobile insurance video consultation services (v-system), DB Insurance is now taking its first step toward fostering an open financial ecosystem.

According to the insurance industry on the 9th, DB Insurance has been operating its own open platform based on an open application programming interface (API) environment since the 5th.

A DB Insurance official explained, "Through the open platform, we plan to provide fintech companies with the highest level of insurance services in Korea so that customers can use DB Insurance's services anytime and anywhere."

To use DB Insurance's open platform, one must first propose a partnership business model, and after analyzing the business model, sign an API usage contract.

Through the open API, DB Insurance plans to provide products and services to new partner companies and build a stable financial data infrastructure by integrating IT systems and diversifying sales channels with partners.

When emerging fintech companies use DB Insurance's API, it will be easier to enter the insurance market, and in the long term, it is expected to promote competition among fintech companies and support innovative growth. The open API platform is expected to provide a foundational environment that allows companies to publicly share their services externally so that various users can utilize them and quickly and easily create new services.

Open API platform provision is actively carried out in public institutions and the IT industry. For example, using a portal site's map API to attach a map to one's webpage or utilizing a price comparison API to implement price comparison functions in personal shopping malls.

In the financial industry, movements to utilize open APIs are also active. Open banking is a representative example.

The 'Open Banking Joint Business System,' a payment network based on open API, was fully opened in December 2019, allowing fintech and other user institutions to access the entire banking payment network simply by connecting to the system. Emerging financial service fields such as MyData and MyPayment are also being promoted based on open APIs.

Meanwhile, cases where financial institutions operate their own open API platforms have been rare. Only in June did IBK Industrial Bank build an open API platform, and there had been none in the insurance industry until now.

Therefore, there are calls for insurance companies to actively respond to changes in the open financial ecosystem. This is due to concerns that as big tech and other platform companies enter the insurance market in earnest, insurance companies may become dependent on these platforms.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.