PCS adds elemental loss events to global marine & energy platform

Property/casualty insurance risk information provider PCS, a Verisk Analytics business, has expanded its marine coverage to include elemental loss events in order to help clients improve their understanding of marine and energy risk.

The elemental loss reporting will be first launched for the Gulf of Mexico starting November 1, 2020, with the North Sea and rest of the world expected to be introduced by the first quarter of 2021.

PCS said the move represents the platform’s first step toward global coverage for elemental marine and energy loss events, which it hopes will help the market with specific industry loss-related problems.

The expansion of coverage will include events with insured loss estimates of at least $250 million and will be identified as “elemental” in the PCS Global Marine and Energy platform in order to keep from disrupting any non-elemental risk-transfer transactions currently in the market.

“We’re moving deliberately into elemental marine and energy coverage," said Ted Gregory, director of global PCS operations. "For all new PCS product launches — both catastrophe and non-catastrophe —we’ve included extensive historical loss databases. We’ve completed that for the Gulf of Mexico and are working our way through the North Sea now.”

“There’s no substitute for a historical loss database," explained Alex Mican, senior PCS product development director. "[...] It significantly reduces the uncertainty that usually comes with new product adoption. And with data going back to 1992 for elemental losses, we’re happy with the amount of context we’re able to provide our clients.”

Tom Johansmeyer, head of PCS, added: “Independent industry insured loss estimates are crucial to the basic operations of the insurance industry. In the past, there was a sense that loss reporting made more sense for catastrophe than specialty, because of the scope of insureds affected.

“We learned early in the process of developing PCS Global Marine and Energy that single risks and small events aren’t as straightforward as they might seem. Different perspectives, varied interpretations of available facts, and the interests of the risk-bearer all seem to factor into views of industry loss. With our latest expansion to PCS Global Marine and Energy, we look forward to helping our clients further improve their understanding of marine and energy risk.”