WTW launches tool to track Covid-19 property exposure in real-time

Insurance and reinsurance brokerage Willis Towers Watson (WTW) has launched a tool to help risk managers assess their Covid-19 coronavirus property exposure in real-time.

The tool delivers real-time, risk and analytics information as part of WTW’s Global Peril Diagnostic modelling tool, which now offers up-to-date information on confirmed global COVID-19 cases alongside the brokers clients’ property total insured values by location.

“The economic impact of COVID-19 will clearly be significant, and organisations are under pressure to quickly identify and better understand their business interruption and workers compensation exposures triggered by this pandemic,” explained Ben Fidlow, global head of Core Analytics, Corporate Risk and Broking, Willis Towers Watson. “Our new data- and analytics-driven feature will help clients through these efforts and enable them to enhance the practice of their proactive resiliency risk and business continuity decision making.”

As a result, WTW’s P&C insurance clients can track developments of the pandemic against their property assets around the world, assessing their Covid-19 coronavirus property exposure in real time.

The Global Peril Diagnostic tool models clients’ property portfolios and assesses their exposure to comprehensive catastrophe risk, inclusive of terrorism and 12 natural perils.

The pandemic related data and information covers China, the United States, Canada and Australia at a province or state level and the rest of the world at country level, represented by either a country’s geographical central point or capital, WTW explained.

“Asia is at a more advanced phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. After months of managing the outbreak and impact of the coronavirus here, there are encouraging indications that some countries in the region are controlling the spread of the virus, whilst others are showing signs that they are commencing the recovery process. This presents an opportunity for organisations to track the receding virus in these geographies and commence planning for the resumption of business operations as soon as it is practical. The new COVID-19 feature in the tool will be beneficial in assisting our clients and facilitate this process,” added Vince Mossfield, Liability Practice Head, Risk & Analytics Asia, Willis Towers Watson.

The tool could also be useful in the reinsurance market, enabling a view of potential property market exposure to the coronavirus outbreak.

As the pandemic spreads and worsens in many regions of the world, insurance and reinsurance market participants are looking for data and insights to help them understand their potential liabilities and exposure to the crisis.

Tools, such as this one from WTW who worked alongside the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University on this new data, could be an essential part of the analysis of a companies exposure, both at an insurance level and to inform those at a reinsurance level of exposure as to where claims may come from.