PERILS expands loss aggregation services to include New Zealand

PERILS AG, the Zurich based provider of industry-wide catastrophe exposure, industry loss data and indices, is expanding its services to include New Zealand.

PERILS, which is a non-profit but industry-supported service provider, already collects and distributes data on catastrophe insurance and reinsurance losses in Australia, so adding New Zealand is a natural step.

It comes on the heels of Property Claim Services (PCS), an independent provider of industry loss data aggregation and index reporting services, announcing its launch into Australia, New Zealand and also countries in Southeast Asia earlier this week.

PERILS will provide industry loss estimates and data on a range of perils in New Zealand, namely earthquake, flood and extratropical cyclones.

Data on market-wide property sums insured that are exposed to these perils in New Zealand will become available via PERILS database and the company will also provide event specific loss data, for any losses from these perils that cause the industry an impact of NZD 300m or above.

PERILS will collect property sums insured and catastrophe event loss data from primary insurers in New Zealand for its service.

The data will be available per postcode (high-resolution CRESTA Zones) and Property Line of Business, the company said.

PERILS will produce market exposure information (total sums insured) and industry loss event data, which can be used by insurance and reinsurance firms in validating catastrophe risk models, as well as in industry loss-based risk transfer products such as industry loss warranties (ILW’s) and insurance-linked securities (ILS) such as catastrophe bonds.

Luzi Hitz, CEO of PERILS, commented on the news, “The inclusion of New Zealand is the next stage in the evolution of PERILS as it is the second country we have added to our database within the Asia-Pacific region. We are particularly grateful for the support we have received from the primary insurance industry in New Zealand. Without this support, we could not fulfill our mission to increase data availability and transparency in the field of natural catastrophe insurance, and as a result facilitate the sound management of natural catastrophe risk. Going forward, our target is to continue to add more territories in the Asia-Pacific region.”

Darryl Pidcock, Head of PERILS Asia-Pacific, added, “We are particularly excited that PERILS can now provide industry exposure and loss data for New Zealand. This is an important Cat market from an international capital perspective, and we have experienced first-hand the positive support from the industry for the work that we are doing. We hope PERILS can contribute to the sustainability of international Cat capacity over time and improve the modelling and management of New Zealand catastrophe risk going forward, supporting the various resilience-related initiatives by the New Zealand insurance industry and Government.”

Adding New Zealand takes the list of countries covered by PERILS services to: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.