New digital solutions from Munich Re evaluate wildfire risks in North America and automate recording of damages following hurricanes

New digital solutions from Munich Re evaluate wildfire risks in North America and automate recording of damages following hurricanes

New digital solutions from Munich Re evaluate wildfire risks in North America and automate recording of damages following hurricanes

(PRESS RELEASE) MUNICH, 9-Sep-2019 — /EuropaWire/ — Munich Re has just announced it is introducing two new digital solutions, Wildfire Risk Score and Remote Industries, that are aimed at making claims settlement considerably easier for insurance companies, thus accelerating indemnification of the end customer.

In short, Wildfire Risk Score will support clients in evaluating wildfire risks in North America while Remote Industries will allow automated recording of damage following a hurricane, thus making it more efficient in claims handling.

Furthermore, in the natural hazards area, Munich Re will also offer its clients two new services that make claims settlement considerably easier for insurance companies and with this accelerating indemnification of the end customer.

Today, many insurance companies already make a use of and rely on the digitalization in areas as helping their customers purchasing their insurance cover online, receiving help with many procedures from interactive chat bots and using mobile devices to manage their own online portfolios. Digitalisation, however, is way more than that and it provides  many more possibilities to improve services and products improving in this way customer satisfaction and insurers and reinsurers need to adapt. Munich Re fully supports insurance companies in using digitisation to improve their business.

Commenting on the new digital services, Torsten Jeworrek, Member of Munich Re’s Board of Management, said:

“We are where our clients and their customers are. Digital technologies enable us not only to continuously improve our products, but also to develop completely new solutions that meet clients’ needs even more precisely. In this way, we help ensure that insurance will continue to be a stabilising factor for people and businesses in the future.”

Wildfire Risk Score

Specifically designed for estimating damage following a wildfire Munich Re’s Wildfire Risk Score supports clients in evaluating wildfire risks across North America. The app combines loss data from past wildfires with information from publicly accessible scientific sources and the result of the analysis is high-resolution risk maps, which is integrated into Munich Re’s existing risk assessment platform. To illustrate that, Malibu and the mountains in Santa Monica Bay in California have a Wildfire Risk Score of 100 on a scale of 0 to 100, which means they are in an extremely high-risk area.

Insurance companies rely on the Wildfire Risk Score application to analyse risks more precisely and to identify possible accumulations in their portfolio at an early stage. For example,  if a wildfire occurs, clients can visualise their exposure in real time and take any initial measures necessary. Policyholders can rely on links to external warning systems to estimate losses and start claims settlement very quickly during and after a wildfire, thus reducing costs and be indemnified much more quickly.

What has been used as an approach in the Wildfire Risk Score app can easily be transferred to any other region in the world. As of today, risk maps currently exist for California, Colorado and Arizona in the USA, and for Alberta and British Columbia in Canada. Munich Re is currently working on developing the Wildfire Risk Score and the risk maps for Texas, New Mexico, Utah and Nevada, and for Portugal and later on for more regions across Europe and Asia.

More information can be found on the link below munichre.com/landingpages/corporate/en/wildfire-high-resolution.html

Remote Industries

Munich Re’s Remote Industries application allows automated recording of damage following a hurricane, and hence more efficient claims handling. Rough estimation on potential damage to buildings can be made as early as two days prior to an expected hurricane and any preventive measures taken. Immediately after the hurricane, aerial photographs of the regions affected are made available permitting significantly better and quicker estimates of damage. Special AI-based algorithms are then applied on the high-resolution aerial imagery to estimate damage on buildings, which helps insurers get to know how severe damage is even before the policyholder does. Getting the damage recorded in such a fast manner, significantly reduces the time spent on claims handling, and loss adjusters can be deployed much more effectively and consequential losses avoided.

First impressions of the improved processes have be gathered following the Hurricane Michael resulting in reduced claims expenditure and increased customer satisfaction as well as trust in the insurer. As of today, Remote Industries is available in the USA, including the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, as well as in the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands.

To learn more about Munich Re’s Remote Industries app, please visit:

munichre.com/landingpages/corporate/en/remote-industries.html

Media contacts:

Group Media Relations
Jörg Allgäuer
Tel.: +49 89 3891-8202
Mobile: +49 171 8384838
jallgaeuer@munichre.com

Media Relations North America
Jodi Dorman
Tel.: +1 609 243-4533
Mobil: +1 908 391-2427
jdorman@munichreamerica.com

Media Relations Asia-Pacific
Faith Thoms
Tel.: +65 63180762
Mobil: +65 83390125
fthoms@munichre.com

SOURCE: Munich Re

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