In an interview with WRIN TV, Joe Louwagie, assistant vice president, Property Claim Services (PCS) discusses the importance of accessing and accurately using data to make the best underwriting and rate-making decisions. He deems this critical in an environment where lack of data is increasingly a challenge as more data is housed by third-party vendors using emerging technology.
The broader property insurance industry — which has favorable market conditions on terms — has increasingly focused on extreme perils, including volcanic eruption, meteorite impact, and tsunamis following earthquakes. Joe said, “The challenge is the lack of data. So even with favorable market conditions, accurately developing the expected loss from rare-occurring events is a challenge.”
Joe explains that, traditionally, insurance companies and companies such as ISO have provided sufficient data for underwriting and rate-making. However, what’s changing is technology and who houses that data.
With technology sparking innovation — such as drone technology in the near future able to diagram the exterior of a home or mobile applications to diagram the interior of a home — companies are changing the way they work. Joe said, “The frequency by which claims organizations need to send out an adjuster to do a field inspection is changing; it’s causing a strategic and staffing review in carriers and independent adjusting firms.”
In the past few years, PCS has seen higher-frequency, lower severity cat seasons. For smaller insurers, the higher frequency of attritional catastrophes puts pressure on aggregate covers, and local insurers have a disproportionate share of local catastrophes. As for reinsurance and capital markets, Joe said, “The lack of a major event means the balance sheets are strong, and, in fact, the lack of an event for several years in combination with excess capacity with robust capital means that cedents are firmly in the driver’s seat in terms of rates and terms.”