Swiss insurance giant AXA is offering a bitcoin-based payment option to meet growing demands for this alternative from its customers.
Bitcoin adoption as a method payment is rising globally and the latest institution to embrace this development is Switzerland-based insurance giant, AXA.
The Swiss-based insurance company announced that it would now accept the leading cryptocurrency as a payment option for its customers to pay for all of its non-life products.
“AXA is the first all-lines insurer in Switzerland to allow its customers to pay their bills with bitcoin,” per the announcement. “This represents an investment in the company’s digital future in response to growing customer demand for more choice when it comes to payments.”
Per the announcement, the company stated that it had carried out market research toward the end of 2019 and it discovered that there was a growing interest around cryptocurrencies which was accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic. This informed its decision to now allow its customers to pay for some of its products using bitcoin.
The firm’s head of open innovation, Claudia Bienentreu, buttressed this point in the announcement statement, saything that the move “is AXA's response to growing demand from its customers for alternative payment solutions, with new technologies playing an ever-greater role.”
The company declared that it currently holds no bitcoin on its balance sheet and that it has partnered with cryptocurrency exchange Bitcoin Suisse, which helps the insurance company to convert BTC into Swiss francs. It has also partnered with mobile bitcoin payment processor inapay to host the user interface for the payments.
Interestingly, the company does not charge any fee for this new payment option. However, Bitcoin Suisse will charge a commission of 1.75% on the transactions.
Currently, other cryptocurrency assets are not supported as the company says “it wants to gather some experience with Bitcoin first before deciding on the next steps.”
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