Thought for the week... accurate insured loss estimates take time
Insured loss estimates from Hurricane Ida were released as soon as 5 days after the tropical storm made landfall in Louisiana. The initial insured loss estimates from InsTech London’s corporate members including AIR Worldwide, CoreLogic and RMS ranged from $14 billion to $35 billion. Throughout September these companies have updated their predictions. AIR has updated its estimate to include insured losses from flooding, so its new range is $20 billion to $30 billion. RMS has updated its estimate to between $31 billion and $44 billion, which includes losses from flooding, and CoreLogic predicts up to $8 billion in insured flood losses alone specifically for the US Northeast.
Building flood resilience in the UK
Flooding is the UK’s primary natural hazard risk, and climate change is going to increase the frequency and severity of flood events. Having spoken to Dr. Avi Baruch, co-founder and COO at Previsico, Ali Smedley explores strategies to increase flood resilience in the UK in this article.
Previsico announces £1.75m funding round
The funding, led by Foresight Group, will support product development to enhance Previsico’s flood forecasts. This includes integrated IoT sensors across the UK and the expansion of its technical team. Find out what Matthew Grant learnt when he spoke for a few minutes to Jonathan Jackson, CEO at Previsico.
In the news...
Fathom receives investment from Moody's
Moody’s is building up its flood capabilities. Fathom, the Bristol-based flood modelling company and InsTech London member, has received a minority investment from Moody’s Corporation. This follows Moody’s recent purchase of catastrophe modeller RMS for $2 billion. Moody’s will now take a seat on Fathom’s Board of Directors. We spoke to Fathom about its climate-conditioned models at one of our events.
Lloyd's partners with McKenzie Intelligence Services
This two-year partnership will give companies in the Lloyd’s market access to multi-source intelligence through the MIS Global Events Observer (GEO) platform. With the ability to monitor events such as floods and wildfires, access to this solution will help to deliver faster claims decisions and payments. In InsTech podcast episode 99, Forbes McKenzie discusses developments and sources of data in aerial imagery and how MIS got started.
JBA partners with Reinsurance Solutions to support African insurers
The collaboration with Reinsurance Solutions Intermediary Services (RSIS), an African-based reinsurance broker, will use the JBA global flood modelling capability to provide flood risk analytics and catastrophe modelling services for its insurance clients across Africa. In 2020 it is estimated that East African floods affected at least 700,000 people.
France flood: Over 10,000 buildings affected
Torrential rainfall of 244mm in 3 hours caused flooding in parts of southern France on 14 September 2021. This compares to an average September rainfall of 86mm for the whole month. According to analysis by ICEYE, over 10,000 buildings were affected by the flooding in Nîmes and Bernis. Meet ICEYE at our live event in November, registration opens next month.
$13.6bn in flood claims: German insurers costliest year?
According to the German Insurance Association (GDV), German insurers face claims of $13.6 billion in 2021 after extensive flooding and hail storms. It is likely to be the most expensive year for insurers since the GDV began keeping statistics on flood losses in the early 1970s. The previous costliest year was in 2002 with $11.3 billion in claims from flooding.
Flow Insurance partners with Chaucer Group
Flow Insurance Services, an insurance platform that offers access to multiple US private flood insurance providers in one place, has announced a new partnership with Chaucer Group. Flow's retail agents (i.e. brokers) will have the ability to quote, bind and service Chaucer's flood insurance product on its FlowRater.
PIA requests for NFIP flood rating changes to be delayed
The US National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) has requested that FEMA delay its implementation of the new Risk Rating 2.0 methodology for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The PIA believes that the October 2021 rollout date is too soon, and more preparations need to be made.
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