ISO Enhances Catastrophe-History Database to Accelerate Insurer Property Loss Searches and Analyses

January 1, 2011 / 3 min read

JERSEY CITY, N.J., May 4, 2005 — ISO has enhanced ISO's CatCubeTM catastrophe-history database to speed up database searches and provide in-depth analysis of insured property losses from catastrophes in the U.S. since 1950.

ISO's CatCube is the property/casualty industry's only source of insured property loss estimates from catastrophes in the U.S. Available through ISOnet®, ISO's CatCube is a comprehensive resource for catastrophe planning, reinsurance purchase, resource allocation and underwriting, and marketing programs.

ISOnet is ISO's secure Internet platform for delivering information to insurance professionals.

"ISO's CatCube now makes it easier and faster to access catastrophe-history data from the Property Claim Services (PCS) database, allowing insurers to undertake smaller and more focused studies for analysis," said Gary Kerney, assistant vice president of ISO's PCS unit. "Faster analysis enables insurers to make decisions quickly, reduce expenses and improve productivity."

The enhanced catastrophe-history database also streamlines workflow by enabling insurers to create customized, preformatted reports that are available in real time whenever an insurer searches the database. Insurers can order up to five preformatted reports free of charge. The enhanced database is updated weekly to provide complete and accurate loss data for analysis.

Powered by Cognos® PowerPlay® business-intelligence database technology, ISO's CatCube has been created to help insurers explore catastrophe information by any combination of elements in the database, including:

catastrophe serial number
date of occurrence
state(s) affected
type of catastrophe (includes 10 categories)
amount of loss (estimated payment, average payment, number of claims and total dollar amounts)
type of estimate (preliminary, resurvey or final)

"ISO's CatCube benefits customers in analyzing loss-development changes in the months following many catastrophes. From PCS resurveys of carriers, ISO's CatCube is able to identify trends in loss payments," Kerney added. "The changes in estimates of ultimate payments by insurers are valuable for assessing future losses and benchmarking an individual carrier's own loss development, whether the changes indicate an increase or decrease from the initial impact of events."

For more information on ISO's CatCube catastrophe-history database, call ISO Customer Service toll-free at 1-800-888-4476, or send e-mail to info@iso.com.

About Property Claim Services
ISO's Property Claim Services (PCS) unit serves property/casualty insurers and reinsurers with estimates of anticipated insured losses on an industrywide basis arising from catastrophes, reflecting the total insurance payment for personal and commercial property items, business interruption, terrorism, workers compensation and additional living expenses. The estimates exclude loss adjustment expenses. PCS defines all catastrophes — except those caused by terrorism — as events that cause $25 million or more in insured property losses and affect a significant number of policyholders and insurers. The threshold for catastrophes potentially caused by terrorism is $5 million.

About ISO
ISO is a leading provider of products and services that help measure, manage and reduce risk. ISO provides data, analytics and decision-support solutions to professionals in many fields, including insurance, finance, real estate, health services, government and human resources. Professionals use ISO's databases and services to classify and evaluate a variety of risks and detect potential fraud. In the U.S. and around the world, ISO's services help customers protect people, property and financial assets.

Release: Immediate

Contacts:
Giuseppe Barone / Erica Helton
MWW Group (for ISO)
201-507-9500
gbarone@mww.com / ehelton@mww.com