Samsung SDS, the IT arm of electronics giant Samsung, has announced the launch of its latest blockchain platform dubbed Nexfinance for financial institutions.
The new blockchain platform combines existing and new technologies including big data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and intelligence process automation to help companies in the financial sector in their digital transformation effort, Samsung SDS said.
In a statement, Samsung SDS vice president of financial business Yoo Hong-jun added:
Samsung SDS is planning to launch its digital finance business through Nexfinance, a digital financial platform that combines proven technology and new technology.”
Nexfinance will offer services such as digital identity, financial concierge, automatic insurance payments and an AI virtual assistant, the company revealed. Nexfinance will also be ‘open’ for developers and clients to build third-party solutions atop the platform.
Its digital identity offering will specifically use blockchain-based identification to secure customer information and enable permissioned participants of the blockchain to safely access the data. As an asset management service, the financial concierge uses AI and big data analysis to help oversee assets better. The AI virtual assistant automates billing of customer insurance claims, making it a seamless, more-efficient process for customers, Samsung said.
“We have completed the design for Nexfinance aimed at the insurance industry and we will continue to put in efforts to innovate the digital finance industry,” Samsung SDS CEO Hong Won-pyo said during a press event in Seoul upon the launch of the new platform.
While details are scarce, the company also revealed it was carrying out a ‘co-certification’ blockchain project undertaken by the Korea Federation of Banks this year after establishing a blockchain-based user authentication system for Samsung Card, the conglomerate’s credit card company, last year.
Before Nexfinance, Samsung SDS launched its enterprise blockchain platform and cloud computing solution Nexledger in early 2017. In November, the company was chosen by the Seoul metropolitan government to develop a broad roadmap for the application of blockchain tech for the city’s entire municipal administration by the year 2022.
Samsung SDS, also the technology provider of Samsung electronics, successfully concluded a 7-month pilot of tracking imports and exports for Korea’s shipping industry in December.
