Climate change

More than 126,000 commercial buildings in London are at risk from flash flooding. Climate change will heighten that threat.

More than 14.5 million single and multi-family homes were affected by natural disaster events last year. There was an estimated $56.92 billion in property damage.

We want insurers to transform from premium collectors to lifelong protectors. And technology is at the core of helping them achieve this.

The total losses and physical damages were estimated to cost $343 billion, well below the peak loss year in 2011 of $615 billion, however the 2021 losses, compared to 2011-2020 were about 4% higher than the average of $271 billion, according to the 2021 Weather, Climate and Catastrophe Insight report.

A recent study shows cyber incidents, business interruption and natural catastrophes are the most important global business risks for companies in 2022.

In 2020, natural disasters, excluding COVID-19, caused a total of $76 billion in insured losses, as opposed to the $7 billion in man-made insured losses. Companies must prepare to meet the demands of an increased customer base, including facilitating an easy claims process and expanding digital access.

The pandemic and industry challenges that lie ahead have fast-tracked innovation and a push for much needed modernization in the industry.

As we look ahead, evolving technologies are presenting home and auto owners with new potential risks. Hacking and ransomware, once confined to computer networks, may become an endemic cyber vulnerability for our increasingly connected vehicles and “smart home” devices. Yet many of these same technologies could create new data sources and risk mitigation options for personal lines insurers.

In other news: Online embedded insurance, Bubble launches; Obie partners with Munich Re company; Nintex, Insuresoft team up on digital transformation.

Breakthroughs in AI over the past decade mean we can now use it to train computer vision algorithms to perform visual tasks as accurately or more than humans. Smartphones can be turned into visual experts in your pocket, which can appraise some aspects of the environment better than people.