Distributed Ledger Technologies and Smart Contracts: Challenges and Opportunities for the London Insurance Market

分类帐是记录诸如金钱和财产等资产的古老工具。现代技术的进步使得分布式账本的存在成为可能，分布式账本是一种数据库，可以在系统的所有用户之间同时（且透明地）共享和更新，而无需每个用户单独修改自己的记录。这项技术（DLT）的激进性质与其他应用程序一起出现，例如“智能”合约-其中合约条款可以由计算系统自动执行。建议通过对该专题进行初步调查后得出的主题对该项目进行调查，下文将作简要讨论。目前的集中式运营模式提供的客户服务很差，而且不经济，这主要是由于大量的基于纸张和中介的工作方式。原则上，DLT可以实现去中心化，从而广泛消除这些问题。一个重要的问题是互操作性及其语法和语义基础。随着DLT的安全运行，交易各方不需要相互信任。如果信任是两个参与者之间的风险判断，那么在这种情况下，风险的本质是什么？它对劳合社这样的订阅市场意味着什么？通过智能合约在区块链上追踪任何形式的书面材料的范围是巨大的。再加上跟踪实物资产的可能性，一个真正集成的信息系统成为现实。再加上文件和资产交互的自动化，就形成了“可编程经济”。从逻辑上看，保险业可能会融入一个未知的经济模式，使保险“市场”变得多余。了解这些技术是如何被采用的，以及行业如何增加价值，可以分析市场如何适应。通过这项技术，数据可以大规模共享，从而提高了巨大“信息市场”的潜力。此外，假设智能手机将成为主要和值得信赖的客户设备，这种设备的便携性和感知能力开辟了一个巨大的信息交换前景。通过讨论了解构成风险偏好的因素将使分析潜在的未来机会成为可能。自动化和服务的改进是可能加速变化的主要方面。有了大量可用的信息，保险公司将对风险有更清晰的认识。预计这将提供高度个性化的服务，但由于产品的多样性和选择，也必然会创造一个非常有活力的行业。自动化只有在技术代码是确定的并且参数是确定的情况下才能发生。智能合约的扩展依赖于明确的语言的存在。这是否可能以及如何可能，以及这对合同法意味着什么，都需要理解。解决隐私和安全问题考察了公开和隐私之间明显的取舍。此外，DLT的透明度提出了一个内在的挑战，因为可以对各种敏感的商业问题（例如用户的购买资料或在线商家的营业额）进行推断。DLT和相关技术依赖于两种类型的代码：法律和技术-需要达到适当的平衡。由于人类仍然必须定义规则，法典仍然是至关重要的。谁应该服从这些规则？随着机械化程度的提高，控制变得更加集中——这对人类与规则和法律的关系意味着什么？最后，可以说，DLT和相关技术处于变革光谱的激进末端——这是如何发生的，它会对社会产生什么影响？一种激进的感觉通过这种技术对等级制度的戏剧性影响以及这种技术给商业和人际关系带来的复杂性的增加而浮现出来。

Ledgers are ancient tools for recording assets such as money and property. Modern advances in technology have enabled the existence of a distributed ledger - a database that can be shared and updated simultaneously (and transparently) across all users of a system without each user having to separately amend its own records. The radical nature of this technology (DLT) arises in conjunction with other applications, such as 'smart' contracts - in which contract terms can be automatically executed by a computing system. It is proposed that the project be investigated via themes that have emerged from a preliminary survey of the topic - briefly discussed below.The current centralised model of operating delivers poor customer service and is not economic, principally due to a heavy paper- and intermediary-based means of working. DLT in principle enables de-centralisation, which extensively eliminates these issues. An important issue is inter-operability and its syntactic and semantic foundations. With DLT operating securely, transacting parties need not trust each other. If trust is a risk judgment between two actors, what is the nature of risk in this context and what does it mean for a subscription market like Lloyd's?The scope for any form of written material to be traceable on a blockchain via smart contracts is vast. Add to that the possibility of tracking physical assets, and a truly integrated system of information becomes a reality. Add further the automation of how both document and asset interact and one has a 'programmable economy'. Taken to its logical conclusion the insurance industry may become integrated into a yet unknown economic model, rendering an insurance 'market' redundant. Understanding how these technologies are being taken up and how the industry adds value enables an analysis of how the market can adapt.Data can be shared on a great scale with this technology, thus raising the potential for a vast 'information marketplace'. Moreover, on the assumption that smartphones will be the primary and trusted customer device, the portability and sensory capability of such devices opens up a huge vista of information exchange. Understanding through discussion what constitutes risk appetite will allow enable analysis of potential future opportunities. Automation and the improvement of services are major aspects of change likely to be precipitated. With a wealth of information available insurers will have a clearer picture of risk. It is anticipated that this will provide a highly personalised service, though also invariably creating a very dynamic industry due to product diversity and choice. Automation can only occur because technical code is deterministic and the parameters are certain. Expansion of smart contracts relies upon the existence of unambiguous language. Whether and how this is possible, and what this means for contract law needs to be understood.Addressing privacy and security examines the obvious trade-off between openness and privacy. Moreover, the transparency of DLT presents an intrinsic challenge as inferences can be made on a variety of sensitive commercial matters (eg buying profile of users or turnover of an online merchant). DLT and related technologies rely on two types of code: legal and technical - the right balance needs to be struck. As humans still must define the rules legal code is still of central importance. Who should be subject to those rules? With increased mechanisation control becomes more centralised - what does this mean for a human being's relationship with rules and the law? Finally, it can be said that DLT and associated technologies are at the radical end of the change spectrum - how could this come about and what effect could it have on society? A sense of the radical emerges through the dramatic effect such technology can have on hierarchies and the increased level of complexity that such technology brings to commercial and human relationships.