PERILS expands to include European windstorm data coverage for Norway and Sweden

PERILS AG, the independent Zurich-based company providing industry-wide European catastrophe insurance data and loss indices, has announced that it has extended the region it covers to now include Norway and Sweden.

PERILS now covers eleven European countries; Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The inclusion of Norway and Sweden gives PERILS full coverage for all the regions likely to be hit by a major European windstorm loss.

PERILS collects and analyses sums insured and post-event loss data from European primary insurers for windstorm events and risk. This enables PERILS to produce estimates of the exposure to the insurance market, sums insured and market loss portfolios. The data is used for trigger measurement and risk modelling purposes for industry-loss based insurance-linked securities (catastrophe bonds) and industry loss warranties.

Commenting on the announcement, Luzi Hitz, CEO of PERILS, said: “The inclusion of Norway and Sweden marks another milestone in the PERILS history. We are particularly thankful to the primary insurance industry in these two markets for their broad support. Without this support, PERILS could not fulfill its mission to increase transparency in the European natural catastrophe risk landscape, and as a result facilitate a more liquid and stable Cat market.”

Eduard Held, Head of Products at PERILS, added: “We are very proud that PERILS can now also provide the industry exposure and loss data for Norway and Sweden at a CRESTA and Property line of business resolution. This allows the full range of possible data applications, including the ability to define bespoke loss triggers used in insurance-linked risk transfer products which reduces basis risk for the protection buyer.”

Peter Frei, Head of Data Management at PERILS, said: “We are very pleased with our data providers’ commitment to PERILS and the constructive relationship we have with them. This is essential if we are to construct a high quality market database, which in turn can serve as a reliable and objective benchmarking tool for portfolio steering and risk assessment.”

The map of Europe below shows the PERILS market exposure map for all covered countries including the newly added Norway and Sweden (click the map for a larger version):

PERILS Exposure Map