CatIQ Launches Insurance Industry Exposure Database for Canada, Developed in Partnership with PERILS AG

Toronto (June 27, 2018) – Catastrophe Indices & Quantification Inc. (CatIQ) marks a milestone today by launching Canada’s first ever insurance Industry Exposure Database (IED), developed with the support of the Canadian P&C industry and in partnership with Zurich-based PERILS AG. The IED contains 2016 and 2017 year-end estimates of Canadian industry property sums insured by:

  • Canada Post Forward Sortation Area (FSA)
  • Peril (windstorm, hail, fire, flood, sewer back-up, earthquake and volcanic eruption)
  • Line of business (personal, commercial, and motor hull)
  • Cover type (building, vehicle, contents, business interruption and additional living expense, where applicable)

CatIQ’s IED is based on detailed exposure submissions from a majority of the Canadian Insurance market. Consistent with PERILS’ methodology, CatIQ’s IED will be refreshed annually each spring effective 2019. Further, with the support of the participating insurers, effective immediately, CatIQ will be producing industry loss estimates at the FSA level as follows:

  • The same perils, lines of business and cover types as listed above
  • Any catastrophe that results in an industry loss greater than C$300 million
  • At three months, 6 months, 1 year and, if industry loss exceeds C$500 million, 2 years after the event

The first such industry loss estimates will be released in August 2018 for the 2016 Fort McMurray Fire and the damaging windstorm that occurred in early May 2018 across southern Ontario and Quebec.

Commenting on the announcement, Joel Baker, CEO of CatIQ, said, “The release of CatIQ’s Canadian IED and Loss platform will provide immense value to insurers, reinsurers, brokers and modelers that European and Australian markets have long benefited from via PERILS’ services.” He added that, “the unprecedented level of detail available in the platform will drive improved modelling, benchmarking and risk-transfer solutions that will definitely contribute to market efficiency. In fact, CatIQ has recently been selected as a reporting agent for an ILW, and we expect more such transactions now that the IED has been released”

Luzi Hitz, CEO of PERILS, added: “We are delighted to have partnered with CatIQ to establish the IED for Canada. By providing both industry loss and industry exposure data, we are essentially creating a situation where one plus one equals more than two. The industry exposure data provides an ideal benchmark against which industry loss data can be compared. The resulting damage ratios can then be correlated with physical intensity measures, making it possible to derive valuable information about the damageability of insured property assets. This trove of information is a crucial component of any Cat risk model. I am therefore convinced that the addition of the IED to CatIQ’s loss data will benefit the entire Canadian re/insurance market.”

CatIQ’s IED module is available as an add-on to CatIQ’s existing services, heralded as the most reliable source of Cat loss information in Canada. Primary insurers participating in the IED program receive the IED module at no extra charge. Furthermore, CatIQ’s Canadian IED and granular loss information will be made available on the PERILS platform.

The addition of Canada brings to 16 the number of territories currently covered by the PERILS Industry Exposure and Loss Database, which also includes: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.