Monthly Archives: January 2026

Affordability, Business Risk, Catastrophes, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Risk Management, Roof Condition

Insurer-Backed Tech Leads Effort to Address Deferred Maintenance

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

As property owners grapple with mounting repair and replacement costs, a backlog of needed upkeep continues to grow, with public buildings alone facing a deferred maintenance cost of nearly $100 billion across states, according to recent Pew estimates. Left unaddressed, these maintenance gaps can escalate into greater damages and more expensive repairs when catastrophes happen, leading to costlier claims.

Digital platform HelixIntel aims to bridge the gap by helping businesses and organizations create maintenance strategies in partnership with the insurers who protect them. Offering a “one-stop” approach to maintenance management, the platform can capture real-time risk data while streamlining maintenance organization and productivity, driving safer behaviors and preventative practices before facilities or equipment break down.

“What we’ve seen is that everyone wants to be involved and know what they can do to help,” said CEO and co-founder Jon DeWald, in an Executive Exchange interview with Triple-I CEO Sean Kevelighan. “What we’re working on is really showing that there’s two teams – both properties and insurers, who have the same mission in mind – and being able to provide tools that allow them to collaborate.”

Noting the unique maintenance required across various industries – from “large school districts with facility directors” to small businesses “where one person takes care of everything” – DeWald discussed how HelixIntel maximizes its impact by working directly with insurers, who then distribute the platform to their customers. The platform teamed up with Hartford Steam Boiler (HSB), for instance, to support policyholders with equipment breakdown coverage.

Beyond helping lower the cost of entry to new tech for consumers, such partnerships allow the platform to leverage the comprehensive data that insurance carriers have access to, facilitating predictive recommendations rather than purely reactive maintenance, DeWald explained.

“We’ve been saying for some time at Triple-I that the insurance industry is shifting from just detecting and repairing after a catastrophe to now predicting and preventing,” said Kevelighan, adding that, by quantifying maintenance, innovators like HelixIntel enable insurers and consumers to “really understand the return on their own investment.”

Quantifying the benefits of maintenance investments is also essential to inform effective risk mitigation and resource allocation for policymakers, who often lack insight into the impacts of deferred maintenance due to insufficient data collection and reporting. Tracking asset health, maintenance tasks, and other property-specific data through a centralized management system can help state facilities identify overdue repairs and develop long-term maintenance planning, fostering more resilient communities.

Though once regarded as a “cost center,” maintenance and other risk management initiatives are “moving more and more into the actual business strategy, so that businesses and the insurance companies that are focused on those businesses are able to prevent those losses and keep businesses open,” Kevelighan concluded.

Learn More:

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Resilience Investment Payoffs Outpace Future Costs More Than 30 Times

‘Predict and Prevent’ Insurance Model Can Restore Consumer Trust: Nationwide

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Easing Home Upkeep to Control Insurance Costs

Catastrophes, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Homeowners Insurance, Hurricane, Severe Convective Storm, Tornado, Wind

Severe Winter Weather Ravages U.S. Communities

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

Millions of Americans remain on alert for a severe weather outbreak across the country after devastating atmospheric rivers, tornadoes, and winter storms raged at the close of 2025, causing multiple deaths and significant property damage from coast to coast.

Southern California saw its wettest Christmas Eve and Day ever recorded, with more than 17 inches of rainfall in one area of Ventura County and 10 inches in parts of the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County. Downing trees and power lines, the heavy rains triggered flash flooding and mudflows that hit hundreds of homes, prompting road closures and power outages throughout the state.

Another unusual weather system spawned 13 tornadoes across the Great Lakes in late December, with six in Central Illinois alone, damaging numerous homes. Prior to last year, only five December tornadoes had been recorded in that forecast area, the last of which occurred in 2021. Frigid cold conditions followed the storm as a bomb cyclone – part of the same system that drenched California – swept from the Midwest to the East Coast.

Defined as a rapidly intensifying non-tropical storm in which pressure drops by at least 24 millibars over a 24-hour period, the bomb cyclone generated blizzard conditions resulting in power outages for more than 300,000 customers and a massive Interstate pile-up involving over 50 cars and multiple semi-trucks in Detroit, Mich. Several feet of snow buried Upstate New York, with the hardest-hit areas in the Lake Ontario snowbelt.

As conditions begin tapering off on the West Coast, the first cross-country storm of 2026 is expected to bring torrential rain and snow in the South and much of the Midwest later this week. Threats of flash flooding as well as hail, tornadoes, and damaging winds loom across both regions, with heavy rains possible in the Northeast.

As always, Triple-I urges residents to stay informed, be prepared, and follow the instructions of local authorities. Checking insurance coverage is critical to such preparation, especially as atmospheric rivers, severe convective storms, and inland flooding become increasingly common. Many noncoastal communities impacted by recent flood events lack sufficient flood protection, and Californians grappling with claims from the storms may also be unaware they need separate flood policies for flooding and mudflow.

Industry Financials, Insurers and the Economy, Market Conditions, Technology

PWC: A.I. Megadeals Spur Insurance M&A Growth

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

Deals exceeding $1 billion drove insurance industry mergers and acquisitions in 2025, aligning with a surge of artificial intelligence-based megadeals in the broader M&A market, according to PwC’s U.S. Deals 2026 Outlook. While total M&A deal value rose to $1.6 trillion through November 30 – the second-highest value ever recorded – the insurance sector remained consistent, though ongoing economic uncertainty could challenge this stability.

Upward trends emerge

Owing 93 percent of its value to megadeals, the insurance industry’s deal volume totaled $31.8 billion during the second half of 2025, compared to $30 billion during the previous six months. Heading into 2026, PwC projects that both improved loss ratios and rising pressure on property and casualty rates will facilitate further deals, as the industry’s performance can attract investors while also leading carriers to seek growth through more acquisitions.

“In coming months, expect interest rate developments and an industry-wide search for growth to strongly influence insurance deals activity,” said Mark Friedman, PwC U.S. insurance deals leader.

Conversely, total M&A market value increased by 45 percent from 2024, with more than 20 percent of its 74 deals valued at $5 billion or more relating to A.I. Such market activity suggests “A.I. is significantly accelerating software and consumer goods development” by boosting portfolio strategies, operational efficiencies, and other gains across various industries, the report notes.

Ramzi Ramsey, a senior managing director at Blackstone Growth, emphasized the increasing role of A.I. as a core driver of M&A growth, arguing that “companies who are viewed to benefit from AI tailwinds are seeing outsized multiples and deal activities,” whereas “companies where AI is viewed to be a detractor, or if the AI impact is cloudy, may have no bid.”

Middle-market lags

Though still the third-largest in the past decade, overall M&A market volume rose by only 2 percent from 2024, with middle-market deals between $100 million to $1 billion slumping to their lowest volume since at least 2013. Tariff policy shifts largely fueled these figures, reflecting greater caution among dealmakers – particularly smaller businesses – as supply-chain risks became more unpredictable.

While sudden policy changes and recent trade disputes could persist into the new year, PwC’s report found that “interest rate cuts this year have already helped mid-tier corporates, and further Federal Reserve Board action in 2026 could go a long way in relieving pressure on them,” especially as current tariff policies continue to stabilize.

In combination with declining interest rates, “products that can withstand declining consumer performance and confidence” should help the insurance sector remain active in 2026, the report adds, pointing to A.I. investments as essential to maintaining “solid ground” in the M&A market.

Learn More:

Inflation, replacement costs, climate losses shape homeowners’ insurance options

Despite Headwinds, P/C Insurance Industry Maintains Course in 2025

JIF 2025: U.S. Policy Changes and Uncertainty Imperil Insurance Affordability