Property Claim Services (PCS), part of Verisk, has expanded its PCS Global Marine and Energy loss data service with the addition of elemental loss reporting for the Gulf of Mexico.
In 2017, PCS ventured away from the property catastrophe sector for the first time with the launch of its Global Marine and Energy loss aggregation solution, which focused exclusively on non-elemental industry loss events of at least $250 million (insured).
Over the past three years, PCS has expanded coverage globally with the recording of events with at least $100 million of estimated insured losses for reference purposes.
PCS has now expanded the solution further to include elemental loss events for the Gulf of Mexico. According to the firm, the expansion is set to include events with insured loss estimates of at least $250 million and will be identified as “elemental” in the PCS Global Marine and Energy platform in order to avoid disrupting any non-elemental risk transfer deals currently in the marketplace.
Ted Gregory, Director of Global PCS operations, commented: “Our clients have been eager to see this expansion, as evidenced by their continued and tireless support. We enjoy a high level of collaboration as a result of our strict focus on solutions that help the market with specific industry loss-related problems.
“We’re moving deliberately into elemental marine and energy coverage. For all new PCS product launches —both catastrophe and non-catastrophe —we’ve included extensive historical loss databases. We’ve completed that for the Gulf of Mexico and are working our way through the North Sea now.”
Alex Mican, senior PCS product development director, added: “There’s no substitute for a historical loss database. We like to go through that process as a way to test and validate our capabilities. That’s what helps drive such rapid adoption of our new platforms. We can go to our clients and show them that we can put credible estimates together. It significantly reduces the uncertainty that usually comes with new product adoption. And with data going back to 1992 for elemental losses, we’re happy with the amount of context we’re able to provide our clients.”
PCS notes that the addition of Gulf of Mexico elemental losses represents the platform’s first step toward global coverage for elemental marine and energy loss events, with the North Sea and rest of world expected to be introduced by the first-quarter of 2021.
“Independent industry insured loss estimates are crucial to the basic operations of the insurance industry. In the past, there was a sense that loss reporting made more sense for catastrophe than specialty, because of the scope of insureds affected,” said Tom Johansmeyer, Head of PCS.
Adding: “We learned early in the process of developing PCS Global Marine and Energy that single risks and small events aren’t as straightforward as they might seem. Different perspectives, varied interpretations of available facts, and the interests of the risk-bearer all seem to factor into views of industry loss. With our latest expansion to PCS Global Marine and Energy, we look forward to helping our clients further improve their understanding of marine and energy risk.”
