Willis Re Unveils ‘Enhanced Approach’ for Catastrophe Risk Exposure

October 19, 2015

Willis Re, the reinsurance brokerage division of Willis Group Holdings plc, announced that it has released the “Willis Re View of Catastrophe Risk.”

The program offers an “enhanced approach to catastrophe risk modeling that enables insurers to more accurately measure, mitigate and articulate their catastrophe risk exposure for all major perils and territories globally,” the announcement said

Willis Re explained that the “need for such an approach comes as insurers are under increasing pressure from regulators and rating agencies to demonstrate a full, independent understanding and more reasoned quantification of their own catastrophe risk exposure. This isn’t always straight-forward given the multiple catastrophe models in existence, each with their own unique methodology and perspective.’

The announcement described the offering as a “‘best of both worlds’ approach – for perils and regions covered by vendor models, Willis Re enhances and validates these models; where no vendor models exist, Willis Re builds new proprietary models. In both aspects of this dual approach, the Willis Re View of Catastrophe Risk draws directly on the broader external academic resources of the Willis Research Network.”

The reinsurance broker also noted that it holds “global licenses for all the main third party commercial vendor catastrophe models to help re/insurers work through the range of models and complex scientific views currently available.”

Willis Re’s Global CEO John Cavanagh said: “Risk quantification and risk management are high priorities within the boardrooms of insurers across the globe, and analytics plays a vital role in supporting these activities. The integrated approach through the Willis Re View of Cat Risk methodology helps clients to establish their own objective view, using what is best for individual needs, not what is simply available off-the-shelf.”

Rick Thomas, Head of Model Research and Development at Willis Re added: “Although catastrophe modelling is based on extensive scientific analysis there have been unexpected shocks when major loss events have occurred. In some cases, companies may have been inclined toward an overreliance on an individual catastrophe model’s output in their decision making. Now insurers must improve their own analytical capabilities to truly understand the models they use to quantify and communicate the risk in their portfolios.”

Source: Willis Re

Topics Catastrophe Willis Towers Watson

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