New independent catastrophic loss index provider launches in Canada

A new independent catastrophic loss index provider has launched in Canada, aiming to provide detailed analytical and meteorological information on Canadian natural and man-made catastrophes to the insurance and reinsurance industries.

Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ) has an online subscription-based application that provides comprehensive insured loss indices, granular industry-wide loss estimates, Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping and other related information, according to a press release issued Wednesday from the firm.

CatIQ’s loss indices have access to exclusive market share information provided by insurance analytics firm MSA Research Inc., a sister company.  

“It is essential that insurers have access to reliable, detailed and complete catastrophe data in order to better understand, underwrite, manage, price, reserve, monitor, quantify and transfer catastrophe risk,” Joel Baker, CEO of CatIQ noted in the release.

“An overwhelming majority of insurers operating in Canada as well as reinsurance brokers, reinsurers and the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction support the launch of CatIQ and have provided valuable input during our recent cross-country road show, which has helped to shape the methodology and feature set of CatIQ.”

Key features, according to CatIQ, include:

• Industry loss estimation techniques to improve estimate/index reliability, line-of business granularity, territorial footprinting and market-share coverage scoring.
• GIS mapping technology to identify catastrophe footprints, meteorological metrics and other data feeds.
• Market share views to allow primary insurers to easily benchmark themselves against the overall market leveraging MSA’s proprietary Canadian property and casualty (P&C) market share analytics.
• Dispersion analytics to provide subscribers with more than just point estimates.
• Query view to enable users to quickly and easily analyze loss information, filter it, manipulate it and export it to other applications.
• Bulletin view to provide detailed analytical reports describing each catastrophic event combined with detailed industry loss information by line of business.

Carolyn Rennie, director of catastrophic loss analysis, will manage the daily operations of CatIQ. Currently finalizing a Master of Science in Earth and Space Science at York University, she has worked for the past three years as a physical scientist at Environment Canada.

CatIQ is also directed by a senior advisory committee that represents the insurance and reinsurance industries in Canada.

The committee’s mandate is to guide CatIQ as it rolls out to ensure it is relevant, accurate and timely for the industries it serves.

The 2014 CatIQ advisory committee members include:

• Claudette Cantin, SVP, Client Management and Chief Actuary, Munich Re of Canada
• Paul Cutbush, SVP Catastrophe Management, Aon Benfield Analytics
• Lisa Guglietti, VP, Corporate Actuarial, The Co-operators
• Jocelyn Laflamme, VP, Ratemaking & Business Solutions, Desjardins General Ins. Group
• Glenn McGillivray, Managing Director, Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR)
• Mazdak Moini, VP Commercial Lines & Reinsurance, Aviva Canada
• Sean Russell, Managing Director, Guy Carpenter Ltd.
• Eric Steen, SVP, JLT Towers Re, Canada

“The increasing level of catastrophe activity in Canada requires that insurers, reinsurers, (re)insurance intermediaries and others have access to a suite of dynamic tools that will allow them to get a better handle on the impact that these events can have on their individual operations,” Glenn McGillivray of ICLR noted in the release Wednesday.

“CatIQ will offer such tools and in the coming months and years, we look forward to seeing firsthand the positive effect these will have on the way Canadian property and casualty industry players deal with the challenge of more and larger extreme events.”