PERILS, the catastrophe loss data aggregator, recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary and has said that during this time, use in risk transfer exceeded initial expectations while it continues to see growth potential.
PERILS launched in 2009 as an independent body to provide market-wide exposure and event loss data for European windstorm exposures. During this time, it has evolved into a primary source of insurance market data for nat cats across 16 countries and six different perils.
According to PERILS, market support has grown from roughly 40% to more than 66% of primary insurance industry in the PERILS covered territories. And, at the same time, PERILS exposure and loss data have facilitated a total of $17 billion of risk capital.
“Our initial aim was to secure the support of between 40 and 50 percent of the primary insurance industry in each country. That we are now close to 70 percent across a much broader range of territories demonstrates the ongoing market value of our initial proposition and the continuing demand for what we provide,” said Luzi Hitz, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PERILS.
To date, PERILS has produced 44 industry loss footprints based on actual claims data collected from insurers. PERILS notes that these footprints represent 15.6 million individual claims and a combined industry loss figure of $33.1 billion. At the same time, PERILS has produced more than 100 market exposure portfolios based on collected sums insured information.
Currently, the PERILS portfolios represent $74.7 trillion of cat-exposed sums insured spanning 219 million insurance policies.
Eduard Held, Head of Products at PERILS, said: “That we have facilitated the placement of USD 17bn in industry loss transactions has by far exceeded our initial expectations.
“When we launched in 2009, our aim was to generate sufficient data confidence to spark the evolution of the capital market’s interest in European windstorm risk. Ten years later, USD 17bn of limits have been placed across Europe, Australia, Canada and Turkey, which is a fantastic achievement.”
Looking forward, Hitz said: “That vision of providing greater data availability to support improved catastrophe understanding is still as clear today as when we launched in 2009. Without reliable exposure and loss data the potential margin for error in risk assessment is simply too great and that is why the work we do will remain relevant well into the future.
“There is no reason why PERILS cannot expand to become a truly global data provider if the industry demand for the data we provide is there. We know that there are many more countries that can benefit significantly from the service we provide and are currently working on several fronts to add further territories to the PERILS Exposure and Loss Database. And of course, we are open to discussions with insurers in other geographies.”
Held added: “It is also important to acknowledge that the benefits provided by our exposure and loss data are not limited only to larger, more mature insurance markets. As the protection gap continues to persist, we are working with countries in emerging territories where enhanced data availability can boost levels of insurability for regions often heavily exposed to natural catastrophes.
“Looking ahead, we continue to see huge opportunities for PERILS to extend its value proposition into new areas, and fully believe that the next ten years will prove as dynamic and stimulating as the previous decade.”
