The insurance firm AXA Switzerland announced earlier today that it will allow its customers to pay premiums in the most popular digital currency, bitcoin.
AXA Switzerland was founded in 1875 in Winterthur, Switzerland. AXA is a multinational insurance firm with over 4,500 employees and insures approximately 40% of the companies in the country. According to the release, the firm will provide the bitcoin payment service only for its non-life products. Life insurances won’t be available because of “regulatory reasons.”
“This is AXA’s response to growing demand from its customers for alternative payment solutions, with new technologies playing an ever greater role.”
Claudia Bienentreu, head of open innovation at AXA Switzerland.
The insurance giant is collaborating with Bitcoin Suisse for this project. Basically, the payments that will be made in digital currency will go to the crypto broker at first. Then they will be exchanged in Swiss francs for AXA because the company “holds no bitcoin in its balance sheet.”
Bitcoin Suisse
Bitcoin Suisse is a well-known crypto-financial company founded in 2017 that offers tradings, prime brokerage, lending, and other services. AXA won’t require any fees for the payment service, but Bitcoin Suisse will ask for a 1.75% tariff. This amount will be utilized as coverage for transactions and currency exchange costs.
The insurance company believes cryptocurrency has become very important to be ignored. Based on research that showed one-third of its clients, aged between 18 and 55, owns digital currency or manifested interest in holding crypto in the future, AXA decided it was time to implement them as a payment method.
The firm wants to expand the service in the future and include other cryptocurrencies as well, but wants to be more familiar with bitcoin before doing so. This is why AXA welcomes any suggestions from their clients and encourages them to contact the company to communicate their interests.
“Further payment options besides Bitcoin are set to go live in the near future, including TWINT. The range of payment options and services that can be used via the Web and the MyAXA app will continue to expand going forward.”
was stated in the release.
You can learn more about companies that have implemented cryptocurrencies in their companies in our other article!
