tom-johansmeyer
Tom Johansmeyer, head of PCS
11 September 2019 Insurance

Loss reporting essential to understand fast-changing cat picture: Johansmeyer

In recent years the industry has been experiencing big losses from unexpected perils, Tom Johansmeyer, assistant vice president–PCS strategy and development at ISO Claims Analytics, told Monte Carlo Today.

These events have included terror attacks, hailstorms and wildfires. As a loss reporter providing an independent view of cat losses, PCS has seen its record-breaking events regularly get trumped by new ones.

“For the past few years we have been trying to see and understand the big losses that are coming from perils that no-one expected,” Johansmeyer said.

“In 2016 it was the Fort McMurray wildfire in Canada. That became the biggest insured loss for wildfire on record in PCS for the US or Canada, and we started telling our clients they needed to think about wildfire as a potentially bigger risk than they realised.

“Fort McMurray is now the fifth largest wildfire on record in PCS. Previously it was an absolute rarity to see a tornado hail event over $1 billion—now we’ve seen a run of several at $2 or $3 billion, which could start to threaten global aggregates.”

Since Johansmeyer took over PCS three years ago, its reach has grown dramatically. Initially focused on the US, it expanded to cover Canada in 2009. Johansmeyer completed its expansion into Turkey and has also taken it into Japan and Mexico.

“New Zealand, Australia and Latin America are areas we are now actively investigating,” he said, adding that he is pleased to be keeping up the pace.

“Loss reporting is often seen as a slow, stable and retrospective activity,” he said. “That doesn’t mean a loss reporting agency should be slow in all things—your operation should be deliberate and methodical but still scalable.

“You need to be able to move fast and effectively into new markets because if clients want to manage their risk, they need the tools to do it.”

He adds that the demand for PCS’s products is reflected by the eagerness of clients to sign up to them.

“If we are doing everything right we should have products that people want and need and are willing to mobilise for—and that’s what we are seeing,” he concluded.

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