Swiss Re, the global reinsurance provider, has entered into a strategic partnership with SAS, a provider of data and artificial intelligence technologies, to help insurers improve how they assess, price, and manage risk.
The partnership will bring together Swiss Re’s catastrophe risk expertise and CatNet natural catastrophe intelligence with SAS’ AI, analytics and actuarial modelling capabilities. The companies said the collaboration is intended to help insurers incorporate more current risk information into underwriting, pricing and portfolio management.
As part of the agreement, Swiss Re will join the SAS Strategic Technology Partner Program. Through the collaboration, CatNet data will be integrated with SAS Insurance Life Cycle Accelerator, allowing insurers to access catastrophe risk information within existing actuarial and underwriting processes.
Stu Bradley, Senior Vice President for Risk, Fraud and Compliance Solutions at SAS, commented: “Insurers cannot rely solely on historical loss data to understand risk. The combination of SAS’ AI and actuarial modelling capabilities with Swiss Re’s catastrophe intelligence will enable insurers to make faster, more transparent and more resilient underwriting and pricing decisions.”
Swiss Re said insurers are increasingly having to account for risks associated with secondary perils, including floods, hailstorms and wildfires. These events can create significant insured losses and are becoming an increasingly important consideration for insurers when assessing portfolios.
According to Swiss Re Institute, the research and thought leadership arm of Swiss Re, 99.9% of insured catastrophe losses in the United States in 2025 came from secondary peril events.
The companies said the new offering will give insurers access to high-resolution natural catastrophe information within SAS workflows. Secure APIs and geocoding will allow CatNet hazard data to be connected with underwriting and actuarial processes, reducing the need for manual data transfers and processing.
SAS and Swiss Re also noted that the solution will support automated decision-making using machine learning and current hazard information, including event notifications. This information can be incorporated into pricing, rating and underwriting decisions, with model outputs combined with business rules and champion-challenger approaches.
The partnership is also intended to help insurers assess the concentration of risk across their books of business. SAS and Swiss Re said users will be able to examine potential portfolio impacts and conduct “what-if” analysis across different locations and types of catastrophe risk.
According to the two companies, the combined technology could improve operational efficiency, with SAS and Swiss Re forecasting a 95% increase in decisioning efficiency and a 50% improvement in modelling efficiency.
The companies also noted that underwriting teams could assess 40% more risks with the same level of staffing, potentially increasing capacity while supporting operational and financial performance.
Governance and transparency are another component of the offering. SAS and Swiss Re said governed and explainable AI processes will provide greater oversight of automated decisions and support regulatory requirements. The companies said the cloud-based approach is intended to provide traceability across the process, from exposure information through to the deployment of final rates.
Ali Shahkarami, Head of Risk Data Solutions Insurance at Swiss Re, said: “Secondary perils are not secondary in terms of their financial impact. Insurers need the ability to understand how risk is evolving across portfolios and geographies in near-real time.
“Together, Swiss Re and SAS are enabling carriers to integrate catastrophe intelligence directly into underwriting and actuarial decision-making so they can better anticipate risk, close protection gaps and build more sustainable portfolios”.
Swiss Re added that the partnership with SAS reflects the insurance sector’s growing use of AI and advanced analytics alongside catastrophe modelling and specialist industry expertise. The companies said the combination is intended to support insurers as they respond to increasingly complex risk profiles and changing catastrophe exposure.
Franklin Manchester, Principal Global Insurance Advisor at SAS, stated: “The future of the insurance industry will be led by enterprises embracing the concept of ‘new collar’. Insurance professionals collaborating with AI agents to bring agility to decision making will be the hallmark of leaders – and the bane of laggards – when the dust settles.”
