What’s New: In Brief (June 04, 2008)

Manitoba Public Insurance has selected FINEOS Claims to manage claims for bodily injury resulting from road accidents.
“Improving efficiencies in claims processing underpins our strategy to maintain and improve the highest levels of claimant satisfaction for Manitobans,” Dan Guimond, vice-president of business innovation and insurance operations at MPI, said in a release. “We believe that FINEOS Claims is a best-of-breed solution that offers us the flexibility and configurability to deliver our clients access to superior products, coverage and value.”
FINEOS Claims will be used to improve operational efficiency by increasing straight-through processing and the automatic resolution of tasks, thereby reducing reliance on manually intensive processes, according to the release.

Risk Management Solutions (RMS) has reviewed and approved the risk analysis processes, methodology and assumptions that reinsurer Flagstone is using in a multi-peril securitization deal.
Flagstone’s transaction provides cover in two tranches against losses from U.S. windstorm and earthquake, Japanese typhoon and earthquake and European windstorm. In addition, it provides protection against annual aggregate worldwide peril losses, according to an RMS release.
The securities, issue by Valais Re Ltd., a Cayman Islands special purpose vehicle (SPV), provide US$104 million of three-year, collateralized cover for Flagstone Reinsurance Ltd. and Flagstone Rassurance Suisse SA, the release notes.
The underwriting and modelling processes use a wide set of the RMS models, accompanied by an extremely high proportion of detailed data to best analyze exposure.
RMS said the methodology and assumptions employed would provide a reasonable and prudent representation of the underlying risks inherent in the transaction.
“While a third party could remodel a smaller indemnity transaction, it would be impractical for a modelling firm to reanalyze a portfolio with hundreds of cedants, particularly given the typical time constraints on cat bond deals,” Peter Nakada, managing director at RMS Consulting, said in the release. “This transaction demonstrates the value that can be added by assessing a reinsurer’s own modelling, and we are pleased to continue reviewing these deals as the market for them evolves.”