Navigating the floods: Fathom's Global, UK and Japan flood maps are now available in CatNet®
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Swiss Re Reinsurance Solutions is proud to announce that Fathom's advanced Global, UK, and Japan Flood Maps are now available within the CatNet® risk assessment platform. This follows the successful integration of the US Flood Map earlier this year, and marks a substantial step forward in understanding and managing flood risks, which are intensifying globally.
Floods are one of the most impactful natural hazards, affecting one-third of the global population and contributing to increased losses for insurance companies. In 2023, flood events across the world resulted in insured losses of USD 14 billion, above the 5- and 10-year averages of USD 10 billion and USD 9 billion, respectively.
Devastating floods affected New Zealand, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, and many other countries globally. These events mirrored the experience of Australia and South Africa in 2022, as well as Germany in 2021, when heavy rainfalls hit areas of high exposure.
Some of the more recent floods set the local loss records of all times. Growing urbanisation along with the effects of climate change are expected to lead to more flood intensification and rising future losses.
Today insurers need granular data, advanced modelling, and the next level of risk knowledge to build a 360-degree view of their portfolio and to better understand their exposure to flood risk. Through integration of Fathom's flood maps into CatNet®, our clients can access additional high-resolution, accurate datasets, which span the entire planet, and the ability to view multiple flood-risk models on a single platform, leading to more comprehensive risk assessments.
"The insurance industry has an increasingly important role to play in supporting societal resilience in the face of an evolving flood risk landscape", says Ali Shahkarami, Global Head P&C Solutions at Swiss Re. "This integration is a significant step forward in enhancing our understanding of this rapidly evolving peril and is a testament to our commitment to make the world more resilient."
Andrew Smith, Chief Operating Officer at Fathom, further underlines the importance of this integration: "The fact that we are taking cutting-edge models that have been produced together with academia and making them accessible and available to insurers within the renowned CatNet® platform is a significant milestone".
The benefits for the insurance industry are manifold, as this integration allows our clients to not only holistically assess their portfolios but also obtain additional insights into climate change and urbanisation patterns affecting flood risks, and apply them for risk pricing, mitigation, and building community resilience against flood peril.
