PERILS targets expansion into Japan

PERILS AG, the Zurich headquartered provider of catastrophe loss data and indices, is targeting expansion into the Japanese market and has hired an adviser to assist it.

PERILS provides catastrophe loss data aggregation services, collecting data from certain insurance and reinsurance industry participants and reporting on losses, as well as providing an index against which catastrophe risk transfer contracts can be calibrated and that can be used as a trigger.

Japan is already a market that sees a reasonable amount of industry loss reinsurance and retrocession trading, largely through industry-loss warranties (ILW’s).

In the past, only unofficial ILW triggers were available, which can create some issues in terms of transactional efficiency, as we explained recently here.

PCS entered the Japanese market at the beginning of 2019, launching an event level catastrophe loss estimation and reporting service, soon after which the PCS Japan service was used for its first ILW transaction.

Now, PERILS is also seeking to enter Japan with its services, which will increase choice for users of industry loss based risk transfer triggers.

PERILS has appointed a Senior Advisor for Japan, in Takashi Goda, a long-term Swiss Re executive. Swiss Re is one of the founding shareholders and a board member of PERILS, alongside other major European re/insurers.

Goda was Head of Japan for Swiss Re and a Member of the Asia Management Team up until his retirement in 2014. He spent 18 years with the reinsurer, prior to which he worked as a broker.

Goda will be tasked with working closely with PERILS team and the local insurance industry to support the expansion of PERILS services into the Japanese market, the company said, beginning in his Senior Advisory role from September 1st 2019.

More choice in terms of industry loss triggers in Japan can only be a good thing and will help the market to move beyond unsupported and unofficial trigger use in the country.