How Accurate Risk Analysis Will Help Property and Casualty Insurers Combat Key Challenges

Many property and casualty insurers have had a tough year in 2016 as the industry as a whole experienced a double-digit operating income decline during the first half of the year. In fact, 44 insurers were taken into account in recent Fitch Ratings, and it was determined that their aggregate operating earnings had declined by an average of 10.8 percent during that period.

There are really two key reasons for this significant decline: the drop in investment income and the rise of catastrophe losses. While the results aren’t in for the second half of the year yet, it’s likely that this trend has continued, particularly with Hurricane Matthew that plowed through the Southeast Region of the United States in October, causing billions of dollars in damage.

The Value of Thorough Risk Analysis
So what can property and casualty insurers do to protect their bottom line? If you talk to many experts in the industry, you’ll find that most would agree that improving underwriting performance will be the key to earning adequate returns going forward.

By no means should the property and casualty insurance industry offer a one-size-fits-all solution. This is particularly true when insuring residential properties as there are a number of new factors that are starting to play a role in risk analysis, such as personal drones and on-demand home rentals.

Also, vacation rentals is a big area where the property and casualty insurance industry doesn’t really have one set solution. For example, with Airbnb, there are many questions surrounding what constitutes commercial activity. Is it commercial activity if you rent a room out in your house for a weekend? We can expect to see more insurers figure out better language and more accurate underwriting processes when it comes to vacation rentals.

The Important Role of Property Inspections
More thorough property inspections will play an integral role in helping insurance carriers to more adequately underwrite risk. Understanding the need for more inspections to be performed, we’ll see more insurers engage professional field inspectors to complete residential and commercial property inspections.

As a property and casualty insurer, it will greatly benefit your company to not only partner with professional field inspectors, but also rely on these resources to educate your underwriting department on how to write policies more effectively.

This is something that our team of seasoned professionals at Insurance Risk Services can help you with. Having partners with property and casualty insurers for over 35 years, we’ve seen how the industry has evolved and have a strong understanding of where it’s going. Please contact us to learn more about how we can help you to navigate these uncertain waters and best determine which risks are worth taking.