The Risks of Hazard

Here is a Reuters article from July (pre-Harvey and the rest of this year’s storms) that explores how parametric flood insurance is a viable way to get necessary coverage in place to help cover the vast Asian protection gap. A little extra research turns up parametric programs in Bangladesh, and then China. Very cool stuff.

Topics: Flood Insurance, Insurance Protection Gap, NFIP, Houston

Last week, Catherine and I were in San Diego with colleagues and friends at the WSIA (Wholesale and Surplus Insurance Association), which is the combination of NAPSLO and MGAA. Last year was my first time at this show, and everything I wrote about it last year I would write again. This year the event was held two weeks after Harvey, and while Irma continued to storm in the southeastern states. Needless to say, flood was an ubiquitous topic of conversation.

Topics: Conferences, Flood Insurance, Flood Modeling, Insurance Protection Gap

Inevitably, let’s check out Houston and Harvey. It’s not the first time we have looked at Houston (or the second, third, or fourth), because Harris County is the flooding capital of the Americas. Forget about 500 year flood zones – Houston has 6 month flood zones.

Topics: Floods, Flood Insurance, Flood Risk, FEMA, Houston

Last week, the President introduced an initiative to streamline the regulatory process around federal infrastructure construction projects (read about it here, or here). As introductions go, it was not exactly textbook, so maybe “released” is a better term than “introduced”.

Topics: Flood Insurance, Flood Risk, NFIP

As risk assessments get better and better, the limiting factor on how well they work is almost always geocoding. A long time ago, we took a look at geocoding for underwriting, which discussed how important it is. Well, everything in early 2015 that was true and valid remains true and valid.

Topics: Insurance Underwriting, Effective Underwriting