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Digital EditionRisk & Insurance News + Notes: Genpact’s Winter Storm Response, Swiss Re’s Annual Sigma and More
Honan Insurance Group Announces Acquisition of BRIC
Honan Insurance Group recently announced the acquisition of Bovill Risk & Insurance Consultants (BRIC), a PI and construction insurance specialty company.
Honan, an international brokerage based in Australia, is set to make BRIC a Honan Company, while continuing to operate under its own name.
Leadership from both Honan and BRIC expressed their excitement about the acquisition.
Honan CEO Andrew Fluitsma said, “Thanks to our existing trading relationship, and BRIC’s operational rigor, we were able to expedite the acquisition with incredible speed and confidence. Not only will this acquisition expand our PI and construction insurance capability but enable us to offer a strengthened national presence in those key markets.”
BRIC founder and managing director Chris Bovill said, “Of course, our people and clients will now have the benefits of Honan’s global network, buying power, broader expertise and go-to-market sophistication, but it was the promise of joining a dynamic business working hard to achieve great things that was too good to refuse.”
Swiss Re Annual Sigma on 2020 Natural Catastrophes Highlights Secondary Perils
Swiss Re’s annual sigma on 2020 natural catastrophes highlighted the losses incurred throughout the past year. The report stresses that climate change risks pose a larger threat globally due to their lack of an expiration date.
Jérôme Haegeli, Swiss Re Group chief economist, said, “2020 will be remembered for the global health and economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. But while COVID-19 was a stress-test for society and the economy, it has an expiry date — climate change does not.”
Globally, Nat CAT losses in 2020 equaled $190 billion. Insured losses from 2020 disasters totaled $89 billion.
While Swiss Re’s sigma highlights the impact of secondary perils, there is still a significant change of loss caused by primary perils. Primary peril losses are trending upwards, which could indicate an increase in future peak-loss scenarios.
“Climate change is already becoming visible in more frequent occurrences of secondary perils, such as flash floods, droughts and forest fires,” Haegeli said.
Swiss Re concluded the factors that influence both primary and secondary perils are the same. The contrast between the two is the attention they receive from the industry, with primary perils being highly monitored and secondary perils being monitored less.
In order to better assess and prepare for both present and future loss, the Swiss Re sigma urges insurers and insureds a forward-looking approach to analyze natural catastrophe data.
“Given the dynamic nature of risks, insurers’ risk models need to increasingly consider forward-looking risk trends, such as climate change, urbanization and socio-economic inflation — rather than relying on historical data observations — when assessing the potential magnitude of losses,” said Martin Bertogg, Swiss Re’s head of catastrophe perils.
Genpact’s Effective Response to Texas Winter Storm Claims
Following the winter storm that covered Texas in mid-February, hundreds of thousands of insurance claims were filed by Texans with home and property damage.
To effectively organize and assess the claims process in Texas, Genpact has stepped in to help insurers respond.
With claims from the state estimated to cost between $10 to $20 billion, several stakeholders were overwhelmed, including insurance companies, supply chains and providers.
The mission of Genpact’s digital solutions is to not only streamline the claims process but to also ensure those claims that resulted in more catastrophic loss receive the detailed, hands-on service required.
With efficient response times needed to address all claims, Genpact is working to supply several technological services to better prepare insurers as well as help insureds.
Included in these services are omni-channel claims reporting, analytic modeling and mobility solutions.
All services have been designed to address each claim made, while still ensuring that the multitudes of claims being processed are done so in an effective manner.
Additionally, some services will enable the insureds themselves to use mobile solutions to report a claim and take photos and 3D models to better detail their claim.
As Texas residents continue to recover after the brutal storm, Genpact is hopeful that these capabilities will make the claims process less of a headache for insurers and their clients. &
