Guy Carp Partners with WSI Corp. to Assess U.S. Hurricane Risks

Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC, Marsh & McLennan’s global risk and reinsurance unit, has announced a collaboration with WSI Corporation, a provider of weather-driven business solutions, to “help cedants better assess the impact and potential loss damage of hurricane activity on their U.S. risk portfolios.”

Guy Carpenter and WSI have developed new “Hazard Forecast Tools” that “will include detailed preseason windstorm forecasts, as well as live hurricane forecasts and updated seasonal forecasts throughout the hurricane season,” said the bulletin. “Using state-of-the-art meteorological models to predict the track and intensity of hurricanes, cedants will be able to assess potential insured losses up to ten days prior to landfall – many days earlier than what is currently provided by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) and other tropical forecasting organizations.”

The new tools will give a more accurate moment to moment picture of the potential impact of an approaching tropical cyclone, which will “help insurers identify their specific areas of greatest exposure and work with them proactively to structure more efficient programs,” explained Michelle Harnick, Guy CarpenterManaging Director. “Clients will be able to use these tools to make better informed reinsurance buying decisions, allowing them to manage their capital effectively.”

“There is perhaps no industry in which weather plays a greater role in operational decision making than insurance,” noted Ira Scharf, Vice President of Energy and Risk Services at WSI. “By bringing together the latest in forecasting technology and the industry’s most advanced risk management platform, this collaboration represents a major step forward in helping insurers use predictive, as well as diagnostic, forecasting to their strategic advantage.”

Source: Guy Carpenter and WSI Corp. – www.guycarp.com; www.wsi.com