Business News: Assurant, ISO, CoreLogic

Assurant, Inc., a global provider of risk management solutions, announced it has finalized a $1.36 billion property catastrophe reinsurance program, reducing the company’s financial exposure and enhancing its ability to protect 2.8 million homeowners and renters policyholders against severe weather and other hazards.

Base reinsurance premiums for Assurant’s 2017 global catastrophe program are estimated to be $125.6 million¹, compared to $132.6 million in 2016. Lower premiums were driven by improved market pricing as well as a reduction in limits due to Assurant’s lower exposure from lender-placed insurance as that business continues to normalize.

U.S. per-occurrence catastrophe coverage includes:

• A main reinsurance program providing $1.03 billion of coverage in excess of a $125 million retention.
• A multiyear reinsurance contract covering a portion of the $895 million layer in excess of $260 million through 2018.
• All layers of the program allow for automatic reinstatement and include a cascading feature that provides multi-event protection in which higher coverage layers drop down as the lower layers and reinstatement limit are exhausted.
• Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund coverage for losses up to 90 percent of $324 million in excess of a $100 million retention.

International per-occurrence catastrophe coverage increased as Assurant continues to expand its business in select property markets. Specifics include:

• Latin America protection of up to $183.5 million in excess of a $4.5 million retention, and Caribbean protection of up to $152.5 million in excess of a $17.5 million retention.
• In these regions, Assurant’s product offerings are primarily residential dwelling policies covering the structure and contents.

Assurant placed its 2017 Property Catastrophe Reinsurance Program with more than 40 reinsurers that are all rated A- or better by A.M. Best.

ISO, a Verisk Analytics business, has launched a cyber insurance program with enhanced rating variables and coverage options designed to help insurers respond to the rapidly changing world of cyber risk.

The ISO program features advisory loss costs using 17 different rating variables-more than three times the number of variables typically used today-that can help insurers underwrite diverse cyber risks across industries with greater precision. The ISO advisory rating plan-developed using predictive analytics applied to more than 32,000 historical cases-can help insurers refine pricing by incorporating risk factors that are often overlooked, including years in business and revenue per employee, and by providing cyber-specific rating factors for best practices, such as data encryption and employee training.

To help insurers meet the needs of the growing market, the ISO cyber program features new coverage solutions for small- and midsize businesses-often the most vulnerable to cyber attacks-as well as coverages for large commercial enterprises, government and nonprofit organizations, and financial services and media companies. The ISO solutions are flexible, enabling insurers to tailor coverages, limits, waiting periods, and deductibles to their individual insureds.

To learn more about the new cyber program, visit the ISO Cyber Risk Solutions website at www.verisk.com/cyber or e-mail cyberinsurance@verisk.com

CoreLogic, a global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, launched an expanded service for clients to access data through an integration with Esri ArcGIS Enterprise. With the integration, clients can access CoreLogic proprietary property parcel data through existing Esri platforms that are both on-demand and web-based, making the process quicker and more convenient.

In addition to increased speed of delivery and ease of access to parcel boundary data and property attributes, the integration allows expanded access to parcel boundary data throughout entire organizations without custom development. The web-based solution allows users to seamlessly integrate data into their daily workflow through Esri tools they are already using. CoreLogic is currently the only provider in the market that has the ability to deliver the depth and breadth of parcel data via ArcGIS Enterprise.

More information about the integration and ArcGIS Enterprise can be found at http://www.corelogic.com/products/esri-arcgis-enterprise.aspx.