Swiss Re expands CatNet platform with advanced flood maps from Fathom

Swiss Re expands CatNet platform with advanced flood maps from Fathom | Insurance Business New Zealand

Reinsurance

Swiss Re expands CatNet platform with advanced flood maps from Fathom

US flood map also integrated to manage and understand risks in the country

Reinsurance

By
Kenneth Araullo

Swiss Re Reinsurance Solutions announced the addition of Fathom’s advanced Global, UK, and Japan Flood Maps to the CatNet risk assessment platform.

This follows the earlier integration of the US Flood Map and represents a significant development in managing and understanding flood risks.

Floods are a major natural hazard, affecting one-third of the global population and leading to substantial losses for insurance companies. In 2023, global flood events resulted in insured losses of $14 billion, surpassing the five- and 10-year averages of $10 billion and $9 billion, respectively.

Countries such as New Zealand, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Greece, and Slovenia experienced severe floods, similar to those in Australia and South Africa in 2022 and Germany in 2021.

Recent floods have set local loss records, with urbanization and climate change contributing to the intensification of flood risks and future losses. Insurers now require detailed data, advanced modeling, and comprehensive risk knowledge to better understand their flood risk exposure.

By integrating Fathom’s flood maps into CatNet, Swiss Re’s clients gain access to high-resolution, accurate datasets covering the entire planet. This enables insurers to view multiple flood-risk models on a single platform, facilitating more thorough risk assessments.

Ali Shahkarami (pictured above), global head of P&C solutions at Swiss Re, stated that the insurance industry plays a crucial role in supporting societal resilience against evolving flood risks.

“This integration is a significant step forward in enhancing our understanding of this rapidly evolving peril and is a testament to our commitment to make the world more resilient,” Shahkarami said.

Andrew Smith, chief operating officer at Fathom, highlighted the significance of making cutting-edge models more accessible to insurers.

“The fact that we are taking cutting-edge models that have been produced together with academia and making them accessible and available to insurers within the renowned CatNet® platform is a significant milestone,” Smith said.

What are your thoughts on this story? Please feel free to share your comments below.