Descartes Underwriting & Generali partner on parametric insurance

Descartes Underwriting, the insurance technology (insurtech) focused managing general agency (MGA) that specialises in parametric and data-driven risk transfer products, has partnered with primary carrier giant Generali on creation and distribution of parametric insurance products.

The partnership aims to develop new parametric insurance solutions to actively respond to the evolving global risk landscape, the pair said today.

Bringing together the commercial P&C offering of insurance giant Generali, under the Generali Global Corporate & Commercial banner, with Descartes Underwriting’s technological approach to parametric triggers, the pair will look to roll out parametric insurance to more of the Generali client base across the 160 countries it operates in.

Generali has significant reach into global insurance markets, as well as the regional knowledge and client connections to roll out parametric products broadly.

The partnership will focus on industries such as Agriculture and Food, Energy and renewables, Telecommunication and Utilities, as well as other prospect areas where parametric triggers are appropriate for insurance and reinsurance risk transfer.

Marco Sesana, Country Manager & CEO of Generali Italia and Global Business Lines, commented, “This partnership moves our strategic plan forward in being a Lifetime Partner to our clients. Parametric products represent one of the identified entrepreneurial initiatives to foster growth within Generali Group’s 2021 strategy. Combining our skills with Descartes we will develop insurance solutions with innovative and technologically advanced services. We want to offer a high quality, customised experience to our corporate customers in Global Corporate & Commercial.”

“We are delighted to join forces with Descartes,” added Manlio Lostuzzi, Global Corporate & Commercial CEO. “This synergy definitely augments the range and quality of solutions we can offer, allowing us to better serve our corporate and commercial clients all over the globe. At GC&C the challenges of our clients are our business, and even in an uneasy period like this we want to continue offering concrete answers to protect and serve them at the best.”

Tanguy Touffut, Descartes Underwriting CEO, further explained, “We are proud to partner with Generali Global Corporate & Commercial, one of the global insurance leaders focused on medium to large companies. Together, we aim to offer unmatched value propositions for brokers and corporate clients through a unique combination of new technologies, cutting-edge technical expertise and local market understanding. This collaboration further boosts Descartes’ growth, secures underwriting capacity and enlarges our geographical reach.”

Generali sees this as an enhancement and broadening of the offering of its P&C unit Global Corporate & Commercial (GC&C).

While Descartes Underwriting will act as the risk advisor, leveraging its specialist weather risk modelling and data-driven approach to parametric risk transfer, alongside distribution through the Generali network and the capacity this partnership will bring to expand its client base significantly.

The partnership is therefore seen as mutually beneficial and aims to help clients increase their resilience through the use of best in class, data-driven insurance or reinsurance solutions.

The partnership will look to technology such as image recognition and machine learning, as well as leveraging new data sources coming from satellites, weather stations, or internet of things devices (IoT), to construct new parametric insurance solutions that offer enhanced transparency as well as smoother and faster claims management.

The move is also partly a response to the situation we now find ourselves in with the Covid-19 pandemic, which has made traditional insurance and reinsurance claims assessment challenging.

“With parametric insurance the case is fundamentally different because digital and remote claim assessment are at the core of this solution, enabling claims detection and payouts to continue as usual, uninterrupted and fully operational. Even in the face of a global pandemic and major travel restrictions, the applied technologies can conduct their services at full capacity,” the partners explained.

It’s encouraging to see a large insurance carrier like Generali looking to expand access to parametric risk transfer products to its client base.

The predictable and transparent nature of parametric triggers is suited to many commercial insurance uses, as they also are to reinsurance, insurance-linked securities (ILS) and catastrophe bonds.

As parametric limits at risk expand around the world, which is accelerating given the growing interest, we expect more parametric reinsurance capacity will also be required, that many ILS funds will be well-suited to providing.