Category Archives: Risk Management

Risk Management

Triple-I CEO on Podcast: We’re All Risk Managers

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By Max Dorfman, Research Writer, Triple-I

Economic turbulence, political unrest, climate catastrophes, and the aftermath of a global pandemic are just a few of the forces demanding that everyone – homeowners, consumers, businesses, and policymakers, as well as risk-management professionals – take responsibility for understanding and reducing the perils facing all of us, Triple-I CEO Sean Kevelighan said in a recent episode of the Predict & Prevent podcast.

Triple-I CEO Sean Kevelighan

“We’re simply living more and more in harm’s way,” Kevelighan told Peter Miller, president and CEO of The Institutes and host of the podcast, which explores how innovators are combating some of the biggest risk challenges facing society by working to eliminate losses before they occur. “We’re a riskier society in terms of our behavior, and this is placing pressure on the traditional risk-transfer tool that is insurance.”

“Even before we got into COVID, severity in catastrophes, both natural and manmade, had been increasing,” Kevelighan said. The two CEOs discussed this growth in severity and what it means for insurers and the policyholders they protect.

“There’s little doubt that predict and prevent is urgently needed,” Miller said. “But the big question remains how? How can we put these principles and practices into action?”

Among other things, Kevelighan talked about the role of telematics and the Internet of Things in helping policyholders anticipate losses and mitigate them in advance by making investments or changing their behaviors. Automobile telematics, for example, shouldn’t simply be about getting discounted insurance premiums.

“It should be about helping people become safer drivers,” Kevelighan said.

Predicting and preventing costly losses has to involve collective responsibility by all parties. It’s no longer enough to simply buy an insurance policy and rest comfortably in the knowledge that, if something bad happens, you’ll get a payout.  A change in mindset is required.

As Kevelighan put it, “Nobody wins from a loss.”

The Predict & Prevent podcast can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher. Other recent episodes include:

 How FEMA Does Resiliency; Computer Vision Enhances Safety

Predicting Wildfires, Worker Injury with Better Risk Data

 Preventing Catastrophic Water Damage

Policymaker Perspectives

Hidden Dangers Uncovered

Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Flood Insurance, Homeowners Insurance, Risk Management

Weather Risk Isn’t “Someone Else’s Problem,” Triple-I Executive Tells Weather Channel Viewers

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Of the findings in Triple-I’s recent report on consumer perceptions of weather risk, the Weather Channel’s experts were most struck by the fact that 60 percent of homeowners said they’d taken no steps to prepare – so, they asked Triple-I Chief Insurance Officer Dale Porfilio for his perspective.

Ultimately, Porfilio said, it comes down to perceptions.

“Two thirds of the people surveyed said they don’t expect to be affected by weather risk in the next five years,” Porfilio told the Weather Channel. “If you don’t think you’re going to be impacted, why would you prepare with a home evacuation plan or a home inventory?”

Of course, anyone who is exposed to weather is exposed to weather-related risk, and it’s essential for homeowners to understand and address the most relevant risks in order to protect their investments and their families.

Porfilio also addressed a question regarding availability of flood insurance, explaining that coverage is generally available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Flood Insurance Program, as well as a growing number of private insurers, but “might be perceived as too expensive.”

It is possible, however, that some insurers might not be willing to offer coverage in areas that have been hit repeatedly by flood.

Awareness and preparation are key. The Triple-I survey, published in coordination with global reinsurer Munich Re, found that, among the 22 percent of respondents who reported understanding their level of flood risk, 78 percent said they had purchased flood insurance. The report, Homeowners Perception of Weather Risks, provides insights into trends, behavior and how experiencing a weather event impacts consumer perceptions of future events. 

Learn More:

Survey Suggests Few Homeowners Prepare for Weather-Related Risks

Climate Risk Isn’t All About Climate: Population, Land Use, Incentives Need to Be Addressed

Stemming a Rising Tide: How Insurers Can Close the Flood Protection Gap

Careers and Employment, Catastrophes, Emerging Risks, Risk Management

Church Mutual President: Getting, Keeping Talent Is “Number One Challenge”

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Of all the challenges facing property casualty insurers today – from growing catastrophe losses to social inflation – Church Mutual president Alan Ogilvie sees the “war for talent” as one of the most pressing.

“For us, the old adage is very true. Our best assets walk in the door in the morning, at the end of the day they leave, and you just hope and pray they come back,” Ogilvie said in a recent Executive Exchange conversation with Triple-I CEO Sean Kevelighan.

Ogilvie called talent acquisition and retention “our number one challenge.”

“We like to think we bring something a little bit unique to our employees, and that’s a sense of mission,” he said.

He pointed to Church Mutual’s status as 126-year-old mutual company – the largest writer of insurance for religious institutions, which has expanded to include coverage for health, educational, and nonprofit organizations – and said, “It’s pretty easy to get up in the morning when you’re protecting organizations that you know are doing tremendous things in our communities.”  

Ogilvie is committed to busting the myth that insurance is a boring business. Among the features of insurance he emphasizes to people early in their careers is the focus on technology and addressing the challenges of climate risk. Catastrophe management – viewed through the lens of artificial intelligence and predictive analytics – has become a cutting-edge discipline. 

This, combined with the fact that many insurance professionals are expected to be retiring over the next decade, “creates an incredible amount of opportunity,” Ogilvie said.

Homeowners Insurance, Risk Management

Survey SuggestsFew Homeowners Prepare for Weather-Related Risks

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By Mary Sams, Senior Research Analyst, Triple-I

The 2023 Atlantic hurricane season officially started June 1 and is forecast to be a busy one, which is why homeowners need to prepare. Yet many lack even the most basic preventative measures, unaware of the risks they face, according to a new survey by Triple-I, in coordination with Munich Re.

The new report, Homeowners Perception of Weather Risks,provides insights into trends, behavior and how experiencing a weather event impacts consumer perceptions of future events. 

In the first half of 2023, Triple-I, in coordination with Munich Re, asked homeowners across the United States about their experiences with weather-related risks.  Among the key findings:

  • Twenty-five percent of respondents don’t expect to be impacted by weather risks in the future.
  • Thirty-two percent report that they have been impacted by weather in the last five years.
  • Two primary ways to prepare for weather risk includes creating a home inventory and an evacuation plan in case of emergency.  Yet only 47 percent of respondents have a home inventory and slightly more (52 percent) have an evacuation plan.
  • Thunderstorms are reported as the chief weather concern, at 54 percent nationally.  This includes flooding and tornados and varies by geographic region.  The Midwest leads the area of highest reported thunderstorm risk, at 75 percent, and the West region reports the lowest proportion of concern, at 33 percent.

The survey suggests awareness and education around flood risk are the greatest opportunity for getting homeowners to take the necessary steps to protect their property.  For example, among the 22 percent of respondents who reported understanding their flood risk, 78 percent said they had purchased flood insurance. 

Learn More:

State of the Risk: Flood (Triple-I Issues Brief)

State of the Risk: Hurricanes (Triple-I Issues Brief)

State of the Risk: Convective (Triple-I Issues Brief)

Stemming a Rising Tide How Insurers Can Close the Flood Protection Gap (Triple-I/Capgemini)

Severe Convective Storms: Evolving Risks Call for Innovation to Reduce Costs, Drive Resilience (Triple-I Research Paper)

Flood: Beyond Risk Transfer (Triple-I Research Paper)

Business Insurance, Business Risk, Risk Management

Beyond Fire: Triple-I Interview Unravels Lightning-Risk Complexity

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Lightning is a more complex peril than it is often given credit for being, according to Tim Harger, executive director of the Lightning Protection Institute (LPI). In a recent interview with Triple-I CEO Sean Kevelighan, Harger discussed the importance of preparing for and preventing damage from this risk, which is second only to flooding when it comes to costly weather events.

People typically think about fire damage when they think about lightning. But Harger said, “Beyond the fire is the destruction of electrical wires and infrastructure that supports everything we do to communicate and to conduct business.”

If lighting strikes any of these structures, he said, “Activity is stopped.”

Harger cited the case of an East Coast furniture manufacturer that was struck.

“That one lightning strike cost them just over a million dollars in damage,” he said. “Yes, there was the typical fire that caused structural damage, but what was impacted on the ‘inside’ was even more costly. They had damaged inventory, production downtime, and loss of revenue during the repairs.”

Investment in a lightning protection system could have saved this business owner – and his insurer – the million dollars lost and prevented business interruption. Nearly $1 billion in lightning claims was paid out in 2018 to almost 78,000 policy holders, according to LPI.

“Lightning strikes about a 100 times every second,” Harger said. “When installed properly, lightning protection systems are scientifically proven to mitigate the risks of a lightning strike.”

 A lightning protection system consists of six parts: 

  • Strike termination device,
  • Conductors,
  • Grounding,
  • Surge protection,
  • Potential equalization, and
  • Inspection. 

Architects and engineers play an important role in specifying and designing these systems, and installation is completed by certified lightning protection contractors. When properly installed lightning is intercepted by the strike termination device and energy is routed through the conductors and into the grounding system, preventing impact to the structure or electrical infrastructure.

“Businesses already install fire alarms and sprinkler systems to mitigate greater risks of fires,” Harger said. “Lightning protection systems prevent a lightning strike from causing any damage. So the investment in a lightning protection system prevents personal injury and the costly impact of even one strike.”

Several insurers offer premium discounts for policyholders who invest in lightning protection systems. LPI invites insurance providers who are interested in sharing their customer incentives to contact them at lpi@lightning.org.

Auto Insurance, Business Insurance, Catastrophes, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, ESG, Health & Safety, Homeowners Insurance, Insurers and the Economy, Market Conditions, Risk Management

Report: Policyholders See Climate as a ‘Primary Concern’

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By Max Dorfman, Research Writer, Triple-I (06/08/2022)

Nearly three-quarters of property and casualty policyholders consider climate change a “primary concern,” and more than 80 percent of individual and small-commercial clients say they’ve taken at least one key sustainability action in the past year, according to a report by Capgemini, a technology services and consulting company, and EFMA, a global nonprofit established by banks and insurers.

Still, the report found not enough action is being taken to combat these issues, with a mere 8 percent of insurers surveyed considered “resilience champions,” which the report defined as possessing “strong governance, advanced data analysis capabilities, a strong focus on risk prevention, and promote resilience through their underwriting and investment strategies.”

The report emphasizes the economic losses associated with climate, which it says have grown by 250 percent in the last 30 years. With this in mind, 73 percent of policyholders said they consider climate change one of their primary concerns, compared with 40 percent of insurers.

The report recommended three policies that could assist in creating climate resiliency among insurers:

  • Making climate resilience part of corporate sustainability, with C-suite executives assigned clear roles for accountability;
  • Closing the gap between long-term and short-term goals across a company’s value chain; and
  • Redesigning technology strategies with product innovation, customer experience, and corporate citizenship, utilizing advancements like machine learning and quantum computing

“The impact of climate change is forcing insurers to step up and play a greater role in mitigating risks,” said Seth Rachlin, global insurance industry leader for Capgemini. “Insurers who prioritize focus on sustainability will be making smart long-term business decisions that will positively impact their future relevance and growth. The key is to match innovative risk transfers with risk prevention and assign accountability within an executive team to ensure goals are top of mind.”

A global problem

Recent floods in South Africa, scorching heat in India and Pakistan, and increasingly dangerous hurricanes in the United States all exemplify the dangers of changing climate patterns. As Efma CEO John Berry said, “While most insurers acknowledge climate change’s impact, there is more to be done in terms of demonstrative actions to develop climate resiliency strategies. As customers continue to pay closer attention to the impact of climate change on their lives, insurers need to highlight their own commitment by evolving their offerings to both recognize the fundamental role sustainability plays in our industry and to stay competitive in an ever-changing market.”

Data is key

The report says embedding climate strategies into their operating and business models is essential for “future-focused insurers,” but it adds that that requires “fundamental changes, such as revising data strategy, focusing on risk prevention, and moving beyond exclusions in underwriting and investments.”

The report finds that only 35 percent of insurers have adopted advanced data analysis tools, such as machine-learning-based pricing and risk models, which it called “critical to unlocking new data potential and enabling more accurate risk assessments.”

Business Insurance, Catastrophes, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Industry Financials, Insurers and the Economy, Regulation, Risk Management

Insurers, Regulators Push Back on Changes In S&P Rating Criteria

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Insurers, regulators, and members of Congress have expressed concern about proposed changes in how Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings defines “available capital” in its rating criteria. Specifically, S&P would no longer consider certain debt to be counted as available for purposes of rating insurers’ financial strength and ability to pay claims.

“Disruptive” and an “overuse of market power” is how the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR) described the measure in an 18-page letter to S&P, which has requested comments by April 29 on its proposed methodology and assumptions for analyzing the risk-based capital adequacy of insurers and reinsurers.

S&P’s proposed changes, in ABIR’s view, would lead to the sudden removal of billions of dollars overnight that otherwise would be available to underwrite catastrophe risk – a sector in which average insured losses have risen nearly 700 percent since the 1980s.

“This debt is viewed as capital by the regulators,” ABIR CEO John Huff says in a news release. “If carriers are forced to restructure debt, they’ll get less favorable terms today. Any replacement debt will increase financial leverage, which is counter to the stability people seek from a rating agency.”

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, along with the U.S. state insurance regulators, through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, have expressed similar concerns about S&P’s proposed change in its rating criteria.

ABIR points out ambiguity in the timing of the rollout of the planned changes, saying, “Insurers and reinsurers will have no time to respond to the new debt treatment before S&P has indicated the changes will go into effect.”

“There is no glide path or grandfathering,” Huff says. “It’s just a cliff. “

Bermuda’s insurers urge the rating agency to provide a transition period for any such changes, as well as grandfathering debt that already is in place.

“If there’s a transition plan, we can work within that,” Huff says. “But having this so abrupt is quite disruptive. Standard & Poor’s should be adding stability, not causing disruption.”

ESG, Legal Environment, Regulation, Risk Management

Bringing Clarityto Concerns AboutRace in Insurance Pricing

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There is no place for discrimination in today’s insurance marketplace. In addition to being fundamentally unfair, to discriminate on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation – or any factor that doesn’t directly affect the risk being insured – would simply be bad business in today’s diverse society.

Concerns have been raised about the use of credit-based insurance scores, geography, home ownership, and motor vehicle records in setting home and car insurance premium rates. Critics say using such data can lead to “proxy discrimination,” with people of color sometimes being charged more than their neighbors for the same coverage. Insurers reply that these tools reliably predict claims and help them match premiums with risks – preventing lower-risk policyholders from subsidizing higher-risk ones.

Public confusion around insurance rating is understandable. The models used to determine insurance rates are complex, and actuaries have to distinguish causal relationships from superficial correlations to appropriately align insurers’ prices with the risks they’re covering. If they get it wrong, the insurers’ ability to keep their promises to pay policyholder claims could be compromised.

And they have to do this while complying with regulations and statutes in 50-plus U.S. jurisdictions. As one of the most heavily regulated industries in the world, insurers have strong incentives to comply with anti-discrimination rules.

To help clarify this complexity, Triple-I has published an Issues Brief on the subject, and the Casualty Actuarial Society has published a series of four research papers, drilling down deep into the topic:

• Defining Discrimination in Insurance

• Methods for Quantifying Discriminatory Effects on Protected Classes in Insurance

• Understanding Potential Influences of Racial Bias on P&C Insurance: Four Rating Factors Explored

• Approaches to Address Racial Bias in Financial Services: Lessons for the Insurance Industry

“Insurance pricing is a high-wire act,” CAS says.  “As regulation and society’s understanding of discrimination evolve, however, it is necessary for us to keep abreast of changes in the manner in which discrimination is defined and adjudicated.”

Insurers are well aware of the history of unfair discrimination in financial services. While it would be disingenuous to suggest that all traces of bias have been wrung out of the system, the insurance industry has been responsive over the decades to concerns about fairness and equity. Insurers and actuaries are uniquely positioned to continue helping policymakers, corporate decisionmakers, and the public understand these inequities and to play a constructive role in the policy discussion.

Business Insurance, Business Risk, Catastrophes, Cyber Risk, Risk Management

Cyber Tops Allianz 2022 Survey of Business Risks

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By Max Dorfman, Research Writer, Triple-I

Cyber incidents are the top threat to businesses, according to the latest Allianz Risk Barometer survey, up from third place in 2021. This result follows several significant data breaches and hacks last year, including the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack, which caused a six-day shutdown and cost the company $4.4 million to regain access to its systems.

Business interruption fell to the second most important concern in a year marked by the continued presence of the coronavirus pandemic, cyberattacks, and natural catastrophes. Still, the report notes that the pandemic “has exposed the fragility and complexity of modern supply chains and how multiple events can come together to cause problems, raising awareness of the need for greater resilience and transparency.”

Natural catastrophe risk ranks third on the list – a jump from sixth in 2021. Global insured catastrophe losses increased to $112 billion in 2021, the fourth highest on record, according to Swiss Re.

While cyber is ranked as a more immediate threat to business than climate change, the report says these two perils are “linked by the fact that two of the most significant impacts expected from changes in legislation and regulation (the fifth top risk) in 2022 will be around big tech and sustainability.”

Pandemic outbreak fell to fourth place for 2022, with many companies comfortable that they are now better prepared for the consequences of these occurrences. According to the report, 80 percent of respondents believe they are “adequately” or “well” prepared.

The 11th annual report was developed from a late 2021 survey of 2,650 risk management experts from 89 countries and territories, including Allianz customers, brokers, industry trade organizations, risk consultants, and underwriters, with a focus on large- and small to mid-size companies.

Business Insurance, Business Risk, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Insurers and the Economy, Risk Management

Weather, Supply Chain, Inflation Drive Up Commercial Property Insurance Prices

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By Max Dorfman, Research Writer, Triple-I

Construction material costs rose dramatically in 2021, altering the underwriting and pricing of commercial property insurance. A recent report by Westchester – Chubb’s excess and surplus specialty product group – details the causes of rising commercial property insurance prices and how they can be mitigated.

The report cites three main factors driving the increase:

  • More frequent and severe insured losses due to extreme weather;
  • A supply chain crisis that has generated higher costs for construction materials; and
  • Rising inflation, which totaled nearly 7 percent in December 2021 from the previous year’s period and is the largest one-year increase in the past 40 years.

Weather, extreme and unpredictable

According to NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, there were 20 weather-related disasters with losses exceeding $1 billion occurred in the United States between January and September 2021. Between 1980 and 2020, the average number of these types of losses was seven.

In the first half of 2021, about $42 billion in insured property losses were recorded by the insurance industry, representing the highest figure in a decade, according to Swiss Re.

Despite this dramatic rise in losses, the report says, catastrophe risk models “may not fully capture the potential losses attributable to unusual weather events like the December 2021 tornado outbreak, Hurricane Ida, and Winter Storm Uri.” The unpredictability of these storms, alongside a need for better hydrological, topological, and geospatial data gathering and analysis, continues to pose a threat for insurers trying to anticipate risks associated with commercial properties.

Supply chain

2021 also saw a fluctuation of pricing changes for many materials — particularly those used for building – courtesy of the pandemic’s disruption of the global supply chain. Although the exorbitant lumber prices fell in the second half of the year, the prices of materials like copper piping and tubing dramatically increased, according to the report. This posed a challenge for insurers to approximate future costs for underwriting and pricing purposes. 

If an unexpected major storm hits a heavily populated region, thousands of homes may need to be repaired or replaced at the same time, pushing the cost of goods and labor – and, ultimately, insurance – even higher. In November 2021, the report says, it was estimated that commercial properties were undervalued for insurance underwriting purposes by more than 30 percent.

Inflation

In addition to pandemic-driven cost increases, underwriters are concerned about the broader inflation picture and its potential impact on interest rates.

“High inflation of the 1970s and early 1980s, for example, adversely affected the industry, resulting in weaker underwriting performance and reserve levels,” the report says. “Rising interest rates, on the other hand, deteriorated the value of fixed income assets.”

Economists recently polled by Reuters said they expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to tighten monetary policy to tame persistently high inflation at a much faster pace than they believed a month earlier.

 Where do we go from here?

Westchester’s report offers several strategies to help combat rising commercial property insurance costs:

  • Insurers, reinsurers, modeling firms, brokers, and risk managers need to develop more accurate and near-real-time data on building condition, drainage systems, real estate trends, and access to construction materials and labor;
  • Risk managers and property owners should consider entering agreements with contractors before weather events to ensure that materials and services are available when the need arises;
  • To ensure more comprehensive underwriting of a building’s replacement value, more frequent and in-depth property damage risk appraisals from qualified sources are needed; and
  • Insurers should consider upgrading loss prevention services provided to commercial property owners and rewarding policyholders with discounts and credits for taking certain risk-mitigation measures.