Traditional insurance contracts are beset with challenges such as cumbersome notification, complex underwriting and inefficient claims settlement, all of which impede the industry’s growth. In response, the digital transformation of insurance companies has become essential. Blockchain technology, with its inherent features of transparency and immutability, offers significant potential for transforming the insurance industry and there has been considerable research on using blockchain technology in the insurance sector. However, when it comes to cross-border insurance service, current solutions fall short in effectively navigating the legal and compliance complexities inherent in cross-border insurance service delivery. When transmitting data across borders, it is essential to adhere to the legal requirements of cross-border laws and regulations, especially considering the variations in regional data protection and privacy legislation. A general solution for managing cross-border data transfer that both supports service delivery and adheres to compliance standards, has yet to be developed. In this paper, we propose solutions to secure data transfer in cross-border insurance service provision. First, we examine the legal and compliance challenges associated with cross-border data transfer. Following this, we introduce a system that integrates blockchain, smart contracts, and Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) to enhance cross-border insurance services. We propose a cross-chain protocol, which incorporates hash-locking and the notary mechanism for efficiency and security. We develop a prototype for implementing our proposed protocol and conduct extensive testing to show the practicality and security of our proposed protocol.
cross-border insurance; blockchain; cross-chain; TEE; data security