John Hancock‘s ‘Lab of Forward Thinking’ (LOFT) has announced a collaboration with ConsenSys and BlockApps in the LOFT’s first Ethereum blockchain proof of concept. The LOFT will apply blockchain technologies to enhance the on-boarding of new insurance and wealth management clients in order to enhance one of the critical drivers of customer satisfaction.
Ace Moghimi, Manulife / John Hancock Head of Innovation for North America, explained:
“Our goal is to simplify and enhance the customer experience when they first begin doing business with us. In the wealth management business this involves not only satisfying customers, but regulatory and legal aspects as well. We could not have found a better partner than ConsenSys and BlockApps to accelerate our understanding and ability to build out applications leveraging blockchain.”
In 2015, John Hancock launched the LOFT, a 6,500 square foot space located at its Seaport area headquarters in Boston’s “Innovation District,” devoted to a culture of innovation and creativity within all facets of the organization. LOFTs are keyed towards the development of new ways to fulfill the Company’s customer-centric strategy. New LOFTs are being opened around the world to further collaboration and devise new forward-thinking technology solutions for the Company’s various wealth and asset management and insurance business lines.
Igor Lilic, Principal Technical Lead of ConsenSys Enterprise, commented:
“The LOFT group is a model example of innovation within the enterprise: bright, enthusiastic teams tasked with understanding new technologies and who aren’t afraid of getting their hands dirty by building prototypes. We are incredibly enthusiastic about John Hancock’s commitment to the blockchain ecosystem and we look forward to continued collaboration as LOFT builds smart contract based platforms.”
Kieren James-Lubin, Chief Product Officer of BlockApps, said:
“LOFT is just that – an organization focused around forward thinking. They are building the technical knowhow and internal stakeholder support that will allow John Hancock to be a disruptor rather than a disruptee as the blockchain revolution materializes. We are extremely enthusiastic about our partnership with LOFT.”
ConsenSys is a studio incubating a number of Ethereum-based platforms and projects such as BlockApps - a full stack platform for decentralized applications.
John Hancock Financial is the American subsidiary of global Canadian insurance and financial services corporation Manulife Financial.
