
Global flood expert, JBA Risk Management (JBA), and leading data enrichment and geospatial insurance analytics firm, SpatialKey, have collaborated to provide JBA’s new 5 meter flood maps and associated pricing data to insurers who underwrite and manage flood risk in the state of Florida. These are the most detailed flood maps available for Florida and the start of the initial rollout of JBA’s high-resolution maps for the continental United States. The maps are now available for use within SpatialKey and will bring increased insight into flood risk to the wider insurance community.
While we would like to think last year’s hurricane season was an anomaly, recent NOAA research points to more frequent and severe hurricanes due to climate warming. This means re/insurers, MGAs, and brokers alike, will need to become more proficient at the job of operationalizing sophisticated hazard data. As a 2017 report from McKinsey & Company found, “...a large operational performance gap remains. These disasters will likely demonstrate significant value for those insurers that have made the investment in digital tools. Insurers that have not and were highly exposed to the hurricanes will find their operations severely challenged….”
Factors like smoke and wind-driven embers were critical to the 2017 California wildfires, which resulted in $13 billion in insured losses, yet traditional incumbent models didn’t account for them. RedZone does. Lead by actual fire-fighting professionals who understand the nuances behind this growing risk, RedZone is at the forefront of innovations is U.S. wildfire data science with its one-of-a-kind Fire Frequency Score. And someone needs to be, because it’s a fact that wildfire season is no longer “seasonal,” but year-round.