We are here to officially announce that justInCase, Inc., as a small amount and short term insurer, has been successfully admitted to Regulatory Sandbox to test P2P (peer-to-peer) insurance in Japan. While P2P insurance is acquiring recognition in countries such as United States, Germany and China, it is yet to gain wide recognition in Japan. We are very honored to be granted this opportunity to put the P2P business model into practice and contribute to the development of innovative technologies in the insurance industry.

Descriptions of Product and Business Model

The P2P insurance product is unofficially named Warikan Hoken (わりかん保険) (we are currently in the process of obtaining a trademark), which means sharing insurance risks and payments equally among peers. It covers cancer.

The monthly premiums will be determined based on the member count and the number of claims during the prior month. Management fees will be charged for each claim. For example, let’s say that in November of 2019, the total benefit payment is JPY1,000,000 and at the end of the month there are 10,000 members. Assuming management fees are 30% of the total benefit payment, the premium for December of 2019 will be JPY 130 (JPY 1,000,000*1.3/10,000).

There will be maximum amounts set for the monthly premiums, which means members will not be required to pay more than the maximum amounts in all cases.

About Regulatory Sandbox in Japan

The Government of Japan introduced the regulatory sandbox system in June of 2018 to facilitate the realization of new business models and the use of innovative technologies, such as IoT, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchains, which currently conflict with existing regulations. The entities that are successful in their applications will be allowed to begin testing and conducting demonstrations of their projects in the sandbox. The data obtained through demonstrations will be collected and used for regulatory review.

For more information (Japanese only):
https://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/keizaisaisei/regulatorysandbox.html

Overseas Examples

The following are overseas examples of companies that offer P2P insurance products. Please note that there may be cases in which the products are not legally defined as insurance subject to the local insurance laws and regulations.

1. Ant Financial Services Group (https://www.antfin.com/), a Chinese financial technology company selling XiangHuBao, a P2P product with critical illness coverage, on its mobile payment application, Alipay

Read our article about XiangHuBao: https://justincase.jp/blog/p2p-insurance-in-china-en/

2. Lemonade Insurance Company (https://www.lemonade.com/), a U.S. insurer selling Home and Renters insurance

3. Friendsurance (https://www.friendsurance.de/), a German insurance broker selling Household, Car, Liability and Legal Expenses insurance in a P2P mechanism

About justInCase, Inc.
Company Name: justInCase, Inc. (https://justincase.jp/)
CEO: Kazuya Hata
Establishment Year: 2016
Address: Otemachi 1-6-1, Chiyoda, Tokyo
Areas of business: Small amount and short term insurance
Careers: https://www.wantedly.com/companies/justincase
Contact Person: Elaine Tung (elaine.tung@justincase.jp)