CoreLogic urges greater use of flood cover in personal lines

Flood disasters of the scale that recently struck South Carolina have rammed home the importance of extending cat modelling into the personal lines realm, according to modelling experts CoreLogic.

While recognising the good work being achieved by the government-backed National Flood Insurance Programme (NFIP) which is aimed at reducing the impact of flooding on private and public structures, the firm believes that a significant opportunity remains to cover uninsured at-risk properties.

“Those South Carolina floods go beyond the protected areas of the NIFP’s plans. We believe that we can help re/insurers access that risk to offer a valuable product to the market. There is a real opportunity to expand flood insurance in the personal lines space,” said Tom Larsen, one of CoreLogic’s product architects.

He said the company is now focused on offering a “broader frontier” than strict cat analytics.

“We are moving toward a completely connected format,” said Larsen. “That means employing the three ‘Cs’—complete, connected and current. We want to provide an up-to-date and integrated solution for our customers.

“For example, flood profiling. As the hydrology of an area changes, that changes the risk profile and our up-to-date analytics will take this into account. It will also be able to differentiate risk to the point where it distinguishes between adjacent houses.”