Author: Caroline Floyd

Registration for CatIQ Connect’s October ’21 webinar now open

Post author By Caroline Floyd
Post date September 14, 2021

Toronto (September 14, 2021) – CatIQ and MSA Research are pleased to announce that registration is now open for the first of the Canadian catastrophe conference’s 2021/2022 online webinar series. The upcoming CatIQ Connect quarterly series will be held in October and December of 2021 and February and June of 2022.

“Given the uncertainty of the global pandemic, we made the decision to continue the webinar series through June 2022,” said Joel Baker, CEO, of CatIQ and MSA Research. “The 2020/2021 series welcomed over 500 participants to the online format, with sessions covering everything from the latest in catastrophe modelling and risk systems, to the ways the pandemic forced leaps forward in claims adjusting technology.” CatIQ Connect is a platform where industry, all levels of government, and academia come together to discuss mitigation and adaptation strategies, technological advancements, and sector perspectives around natural and human-made catastrophe management.

Registration is now open for CatIQ Connect:

October 14, 2021 – Cyber and the Connected World

Session highlights for October 14:

Cyber Insurance: Challenges, Opportunities, and the State of the Industry with Judith Branham, Managing Director, Aon, and moderated by Gregory Eskins, Managing Director, Cyber Product Leaders, US & Canada, Marsh Canada
Tail Risks Arising from Our Interconnected World with Dr. Rachel Anne Carter, Director of Cyber at the Geneva Association, Jess Fung, Managing Director, North American Cyber Analytics Lead at Guy Carpenter, Scott Stransky, Managing Director, Head of the Cyber Risk Analytics Center of Excellence at Marsh McLennan, moderated by Jordan Brennan, Chief Economist and VP of Policy Development at the Insurance Bureau of Canada
Communities in an Integrated World with Stephanie Rackley-Roach, Acting Director of Corporate Performance/CIO, City of Saint John and an EPCOR Utilities representative
A keynote presentation on Systems Theory

Save the dates for the full webinar series lineup:

December 2, 2021 –Catastrophe Model and Technology Updates
February 10, 2022 – Catastrophes: Past, Present, and Innovative Paths Forward
June 9, 2022 – Sustainable and Inclusive CAT Management at All Levels

As always, the conference Steering Committee brings together leading organizations concerned with adaptation and management related to Canadian catastrophes, including: 

Jim Abraham President, ClimAction Services Inc.	Tara Laidman Program Director, Flood Initiative & Telematics, Co-operators Group
Lesley Baran National Catastrophe Claims Lead, Wawanesa Insurance	Glenn McGillivray Managing Director, Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction
Marjorie Brans Director of Ecosystem Impact, School for Social Entrepreneurs Canada	Natalia Moudrak Managing Director, Climate Resiliency Leader, Public Sector Partnership, Aon
Daryl Duke Senior Vice President & Chief Underwriting Officer, Munich Re	Chris Rol Manager, Policy, Insurance Bureau of Canada
Roberto Figueroa Advisor, Climate Risk Analytics, Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation	Laura Twidle Managing Director, CatIQ
Caroline Floyd Assistant Director of Catastrophic Loss Analysis, CatIQ	Rebecca Wagner Associate Director, Meteorological Service of Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada
Karen Francis Vice President, Guy Carpenter	Kyle Winston Co-founder & President,  CRU Group Inc.
Sean Hobson Vice President, National Commercial Accounts, WINMAR

To register for the October session, and to keep up to date on the latest announcements for future sessions, visit connect.catiq.com. You can also follow CatIQ on Twitter at @CatIQ_Inc or through the hashtag #CatIQConnect.  

CatIQ Announcements

CatIQ and Northern Tornadoes Project Announce Partnership

Post author By Caroline Floyd
Post date May 18, 2021

Catastrophe Indices & Quantification Inc. (CatIQ) and Western University’s Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) have entered into a partnership. The partnership will include the addition of NTP’s tornado tracks and downburst extents to the CatIQ Platform and adding CatIQ insured loss estimates to catastrophic severe weather event documentation in NTP’s open-access database.

Commenting on the announcement, Laura Twidle, Managing Director of CatIQ, said: “The addition of the Northern Tornadoes Project’s precise tornado tracks and downburst extents provides CatIQ subscribers with a comprehensive catastrophe hub that helps them to quickly assess the damage area in large loss events,” adding that, “We are excited to be working with Dr. Sills and his outstanding team on this initiative.”

Dr. David Sills, Executive Director at NTP, said: “Obtaining accurate loss information for tornado and other damaging wind events is a challenging but necessary aspect of event impact assessment. The insured loss data that CatIQ provides will help NTP ensure that the best available data are used for event documentation. We look forward to working with the CatIQ team and sharing both data and innovative ideas.”

About Northern Tornadoes Project

The Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP), founded in 2017 as a partnership between Western University and ImpactWX, aims to better detect tornado occurrence throughout Canada, improve severe and extreme weather understanding and prediction, mitigate against harm to people and property, and investigate future implications due to climate change. NTP actively works to develop new methods and tools to inform the field of severe storms research, and utilizes satellite, surveillance planes, drones and on-the-ground observations to capture and analyze tornado events and their damage. NTP believes it will take the combined efforts of the full severe weather community of scientists, emergency managers, storm enthusiasts and media outlets to ensure the project’s success across the country. NTP began as a unique way to track tornadoes in Northern Ontario in 2017, expanded Ontario-wide in 2018, and Canada-wide in 2019. It is the most comprehensive analysis of tornadoes ever undertaken in Canada and seeks to have a national and international impact.

More information can be found at https://www.catiq.com and https://www.uwo.ca/ntp/.

Contacts:

Laura Twidle	Dr. David Sills
+1 416 368 1723 x1	+1 705 985 3416
[email protected]	[email protected]

CatIQ Announcements CatIQ Platform

CatIQ Issues Annual Update of Insurance Industry Exposure Database for Canada, Increased Flood Exposures

Post author By Caroline Floyd
Post date April 30, 2021

Toronto (April 30, 2021) – Catastrophe Indices & Quantification Inc. (CatIQ), a subsidiary of Zurich-based PERILS AG, today released the annual update of its Canadian insurance Industry Exposure Database (IED). Developed with the support of the Canadian P&C industry, the IED now contains 2020 year-end estimates of Canadian industry property sums insured.

As in previous years, the database makes available industry property sums insured, number of risks and prevailing original insurance conditions by:

Canada Post Forward Sortation Area (FSA)
Peril (windstorm, hail, fire, flood, sewer back-up, earthquake and volcanic eruption)
Line of business (personal, commercial, and motor hull)
Cover type (building, vehicle, contents, business interruption and additional living expense, where applicable)

The Canadian insurance market added overland flood coverage in 2015 and the steady growth is reflected in the Canadian IED. Since the start of data collection in 2016, there has been a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 82% in the personal line number of risks. In total, the personal flood exposure has more than doubled during that period and now stands at CAD 5 trillion.

Launched in June 2018, CatIQ’s IED is based on detailed exposure submissions from a majority of the Canadian insurance market. Consistent with PERILS’ globally recognized methodology, CatIQ’s IED is updated annually from the ground-up. Also, with the support of the participating insurers, CatIQ produces industry loss estimates at the FSA level as follows:

The same perils, lines of business and cover types as listed above
Any catastrophe that results in an industry loss greater than C$300 million

This detailed loss dataset is now comprised of five major events, including the 2016 Fort McMurray Wildfire, the 2018 May Windstorm in Ontario and Quebec, the Ottawa and Gatineau tornadoes of September 2018, the 2020 Fort McMurray ice jam flooding and the June Calgary hailstorm.

Commenting on the announcement, Laura Twidle, Managing Director of CatIQ, said: “Insurers, along with the wider industry, now have access to five years of exposure data which allows for the improved analysis of specific trends.” She added that “The history and level of detail in the Canadian IED and the CatIQ Loss platform will provide immense value to insurers, reinsurers, broker and modelers.”

Luzi Hitz, CEO of PERILS, added: “Today’s release of the Canadian IED completes the 2021 update cycle of the PERILS exposure databases. We now provide IEDs for 21 important Cat markets around the world. Each year they are constructed ‘from-ground-up using sums insured information sourced from the covered markets. We are convinced that they are the best IEDs available in the market and together with our industry loss information form a deep data pool for Cat risk analytics, market benchmarking and industry-loss-based risk transfer.”

CatIQ’s IED module is available on CatIQ’s platform along with the Canadian catastrophe loss database. Primary insurers participating in the IED program receive the IED module at no extra charge. Furthermore, CatIQ’s Canadian IED and granular loss information is made available on the PERILS platform. In addition to Canada, PERILS’ Industry Exposure and Loss Database covers Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

About PERILS AG

PERILS is an independent Zurich-based organization providing industry-wide natural catastrophe exposure and event loss data. The PERILS Industry Exposure & Loss Database is available to all interested parties via annual subscription. PERILS industry loss estimates, provided via the PERILS Industry Loss Index Service, can be used as triggers in insurance risk transactions such as industry loss warranty contracts (ILW) or insurance-linked securities (ILS) and currently covers the following 17 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. The use of PERILS exposure and loss data other than in conjunction with a valid PERILS License and according to its terms, by a Licensee or an Authorized User as defined in the License, is illegal and expressly forbidden.

More information can be found at https://www.catiq.com and https://www.perils.org

Contacts:

Laura Twidle +1 416 368 1723 x1 [email protected]

Nigel Allen +44 7988 478824 [email protected]

Catastrophes CatIQ Announcements CatIQ Connect

CatIQ in the news

Post author By Caroline Floyd
Post date March 2, 2021

Insurance Business Canada’s Alicja Grzadkowska was among the media presence at CatIQ Connect’s February webinar, Catastrophes – 2020 Review, 2021 Preview. Her article, “Biggest Canadian catastrophes of 2020 reveal a significant rise in risk,” focuses on the 2020 CATs in Review presentation, given by our own Laura Twidle.

“The past year hasn’t just been a unique one in Canada due to the pandemic – it’s also been an interesting year because of the variety in severe weather we’ve seen, and the impact events have had across the country. Notably, 2020 was ranked as the fourth highest in insured losses since 1983.

During CatIQ Connect’s February webinar, managing director Laura Twidle outlined the major weather events from the past year, and while it may be hard for many of us to remember what exactly happened in January 2020 when we were living out the last few blissful weeks of our pre-COVID existence, the CatIQ database never forgets.”

Read the full article at Insurance Business Canada, here.

CatIQ Announcements CatIQ Connect

Countdown to CatIQ Connect’s Catastrophes: 2020 Review, 2021 Preview Webinar

Post author By Caroline Floyd
Post date January 4, 2021

Toronto (January 4, 2021) – Looking back, 2020 will go into the history books as both one-of-a-kind and the same old, same old. While a global pandemic paused many aspects of our lives, catastrophes gave us no reprieve. Natural catastrophe records were broken globally, including some right in our backyard. Though 2020 was a year of exceptions in many ways, it falls right in line with the past decade when it comes to Canada’s increasing trend of annual catastrophic loss.

Canadian insured losses from catastrophic events in 2020 were nearly CAN $2.5 billion – CatIQ

The years where annual catastrophic insured losses were below $1 billion seem to be a thing of the past; 2020 went one further and surpassed $2 billion in the first half of the year. The two largest events occurred in the second quarter. The Fort McMurray ice jam resulted in a 1 in 100-year flood event and caused a staggering $562 million of insured loss in the spring, and the June 13^th Calgary hailstorm which pelted areas of the northeast with tennis ball-sized hail became the costliest hailstorm on record for Canada at $1.3 billion. These catastrophic events, which directly impact the public, require industry, academia and government to work together before, during and afterwards. In addition to its role as Canada’s loss and exposure indices provider, Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ), in partnership with MSA Research, organizes a conference to foster such collaboration in Canada.

CatIQ Connect, is a content-driven forum geared toward:

Insurance/Reinsurance/Risk Transfer Professionals
All Levels of Government
Engineers/Restoration contractors
Academia/Researchers
Risk Managers
Other sectors/organizations dealing with resilience to catastrophes

Session topics:

2020 ‘Catastrophes in Review’ by CatIQ
State of the Industry
- Peter Askew, President & CEO, Guy Carpenter
- Paul MacDonald, EVP, Personal Insurance, Economical Insurance
- Monica Ningen, President & CEO, Canada and English Caribbean, Swiss Re
- Moderated by Paul Kovacs, Executive Director, ICLR
The Future of Claims Adjusting
- Bill Dietz, President Paul Davis Canada
- Skip McHardy, EVP, CRU Group
- Moderated by Christopher Bartlett, President of the CIAA and Supervisor – National Claims Management Centre, Crawford and Company
Impacts of the Supply Chain on the Insurance Industry
- Darilyn Dorosz, General Manager, PDR Hail Team
- Jim Gibb, Vice President, Installation Services, Peak Services
- Ian McKay, AVP, National Accounts, Insurance Company Solutions, Verisk
- Colin Young, AVP, JS Held
- Moderated by Elizabeth Kepes, Claims Corporate Vendor Manager, RSA Insurance Group

With the in-person event, typically held in February each year, being suspended for 2021, CatIQ has developed a series of quarterly webinars to focus on top-of-mind themes for all CAT stakeholders. More than 330 delegates have participated since October in CatIQ Connect’s online format.

“Climate change is causing increasingly erratic and severe weather patterns across the globe and losses from secondary peril events are forecast to increase. The risk Canada faces from extreme weather is growing and the costs of natural catastrophes are rising,” said Dipika Deol, Swiss Re’s Head of Underwriting for Canada and English Caribbean. “Events like CatIQ Connect bring together all key stakeholders to discuss and develop the solutions that will protect communities against the impact of severe weather and increase resilience across all of Canada.”

Laura Twidle, Managing Director at CatIQ says, “We are happy to have been able to bring together catastrophe experts over the past year. As we all learned, mother nature does not sit back just because there is a pandemic. We must all continue to work together to prepare for a future with increasingly frequent extreme events.”

To learn more about CatIQ Connect, visit https://connect.catiq.com/.

CatIQ Connect

Registration for the first of CatIQ’s Connect Quarterly Webinar Series has opened. It will run online on October 14, 2020

Post author By Caroline Floyd
Post date August 18, 2020

Toronto, August 18, 2020 – CatIQ and MSA Research are pleased to announce that registration is now open for the first of the Canadian catastrophe conference’s online webinars. The upcoming CatIQ Connect quarterly webinar series will be held in October and December of 2020 and February and June of 2021.

“Given the uncertainty of the global pandemic, we made the decision to host an online quarterly series from October 2020 to June 2021,” said Joel Baker, CEO, of CatIQ and MSA Research “As we all know, catastrophes do not stop for a pandemic, and this year has already been memorable with the impactful Fort McMurray flooding and Calgary hailstorms.” CatIQ Connect is a platform where industry, all levels of government, and academia come together to discuss mitigation and adaptation strategies, technological advancements, and sector perspectives around catastrophe management.

Registration is now open for:

October 14, 2020 – The Financial Sector on Catastrophes & Climate Change

“This forum will examine how banks, insurers and institutional investors are subject to the evolving threat of physical climate change. For those working in the capital markets, the forum will provide practical guidance to limit risk that might otherwise prove challenging to the financial services sector,” says Dr. Blair Feltmate, Head, Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, University of Waterloo.

The half-day will be capped off with a keynote discussion between Mike Pedersen, Chair of the Business Development Bank of Canada, and Blair Feltmate, Head of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation. The pair will focus on the threat of physical climate risk, and how Canada’s banks can provide stability to the Canadian economy.

Session highlights for October 14:
Risks and Opportunities for the Capital Markets with Alyson Slater, Global Risk Institute. Moderator: Andrew Castaldi, PERILS AG

Innovative Insurance Strategies from Low to Middle Income Countries and How to Apply Them in Canada with Kathy Baughman McLeod, Adrienne Arsht–Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, Atlantic Council. Moderator: Marjorie Brans, School for Social Entrepreneurs Canada

Evolving Perspectives on the Impacts of Physical Climate Risk for Canada’s Housing Sector with Steve Mennill, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Moderator: Joanna Dafoe, Insurance Bureau of Canada

Save the dates for the full webinar series line up:
December 3, 2020 – New in Catastrophe Technology & Modelling
February 11, 2021 – Pandemic: One Year Later
June 10, 2021 – Collaborating to Mitigate Loss to Catastrophes and Climate Change

As always, the conference Steering Committee brings together leading organizations concerned with adaptation and management related to Canadian catastrophes, including:

Jim Abraham President, ClimAction Services Inc.	Caroline Floyd Assistant Director of Catastrophic Loss Analysis, CatIQ	Anthony Black National Catastrophe Manager, RSA Insurance Group
Karen Francis Vice President, Guy Carpenter	Marjorie Brans Director of Ecosystem Impact, School for Social Entrepreneurs Canada	Paul A. MacDonald EVP, Registrational Insurance, Economical Insurance
Michael Butler Senior Business Development Manager-Commercial, ServiceMaster Restore	Glenn McGillivray Managing Director, ICLR	Andrew Castaldi Representative Consultant, PERILS AG
Dwayne Torrey Director, Construction & Infrastructure, Standards, CSA Group	Lindsey Collins Senior Catastrophe Analyst, Aon	Laura Twidle Managing Director, CatIQ
Joanna Dafoe National Director of Climate Change, Insurance Bureau of Canada	Rebecca Wagner Associate Director, Meteorological Service of Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada	Dipika Deol Head of P&C Underwriting, Canada and English Caribbean, Swiss Re
Kyle Winston Co-founder & President, CRU Group Inc.	Dr. Blair Feltmate Head, Intact Centre on Climate Adaption, University of Waterloo	Anna Ziolecki Director, Partners for Action

CatIQ Platform

CatIQ Issues Annual Update of Insurance Industry Exposure Database for Canada

Post author By Caroline Floyd
Post date June 12, 2020

Toronto, June 30, 2020 – Catastrophe Indices & Quantification Inc. (CatIQ), a subsidiary of Zurich-based PERILS AG, today released the annual update of its Canadian insurance Industry Exposure Database (IED), developed with the support of the Canadian P&C industry. The IED now contains 2019 year-end estimates of Canadian industry property sums insured.

As in previous years, the database makes available industry property sums insured, number of risks and prevailing original insurance conditions by:

Canada Post Forward Sortation Area (FSA)
Peril (windstorm, hail, fire, flood, sewer back-up, earthquake and volcanic eruption)
Line of business (personal, commercial, and motor hull)
Cover type (building, vehicle, contents, business interruption and additional living expense, where applicable)

The same perils, lines of business and cover types as listed above
Any catastrophe that results in an industry loss greater than C$300 million

This detailed loss dataset is now comprised of three major events, including the 2016 Fort McMurray Wildfire, the 2018 May Windstorm in Ontario and Quebec, and the Ottawa and Gatineau tornadoes of September 2018. The Fort McMurray flooding from this past spring will also be added to the FSA level loss database at the 90-day estimate.

Commenting on the announcement, Joel Baker, CEO of CatIQ, said, “The update of CatIQ’s Canadian IED and Loss platform will provide immense value to insurers, reinsurers, brokers and modelers.” He added that, “the unprecedented level of detail available in the platform supports improved modeling, benchmarking and risk-transfer solutions. The new data combined with the powerful features added in Fall 2018, like the Exposure Map, create an opportunity for the industry to quickly review the exposure to forecasts and more.”

Luzi Hitz, CEO of PERILS, added: “An independent and reliable IED is crucial to understanding the Cat exposure of the Canadian insurance market. CatIQ applies the identical from-ground-up method as PERILS to produce the Canadian IED, namely by collecting sums insured information from the majority of the market each year and by calculating the industry exposure based on the collected data. It is the gold standard of IEDs and enables Cat model validation as well as risk-pricing of industry-loss-based risk-transfer instruments, such as ILWs and Cat bonds. In times of tight retrocession capacity, these industry loss products can be a valid and helpful alternative to traditional retrocession, and CatIQ’s IED and industry losses represent the most professional dataset available for this specialized market.”

CatIQ’s IED module is available on CatIQ’s platform, heralded as the most reliable source of CAT loss information in Canada. Primary insurers participating in the IED program receive the IED module at no extra charge. Furthermore, CatIQ’s Canadian IED and granular loss information is made available on the PERILS platform. In addition to Canada, PERILS’ Industry Exposure and Loss Database covers Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

Catastrophes CatIQ Connect

CatIQ Connect, Canada’s Catastrophe Conference, described as ‘Where Worst Case Meets Best Practice’

Post author By Caroline Floyd
Post date February 12, 2020

Toronto, February 12, 2020 – The fifth annual Canadian catastrophe conference, CatIQ Connect, was held over three days last week, Feb 3-5, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. More than 235 delegates attended the event, including catastrophe risk professionals and emergency managers from across Canada, the United States, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. This year featured a great recap of the outstanding initiatives underway across the country, as well as discussions on the work yet to be done.

Delegates participated in a workshop developed by the Canadian Red Cross (CRC) on Feb 3^rd. The CRC led the participants through a wildfire simulation to present the challenges faced in a disaster. From the second part of the workshop, the CRC will use the valuable insights from the diverse participants to contribute to their report on the role of a national flood insurance program in assisting individuals and small business affected by disasters.

“As someone who works with the communities most vulnerable to natural disaster impacts, I appreciated learning about the growing challenges facing the catastrophe management industry,” said Marjorie Brans, Director of Ecosystem Impact, School for Social Entrepreneurs Canada. “CatIQ Connect is a critical gathering where industry players can pool their creativity and rise to the challenge.”

Climate change and the need for resilient infrastructure were featured prominently in the conversation, as well as conversations around a high-risk flood insurance pool. “We are entering an unprecedented period of collaboration on climate resilience between the federal government and the insurance sector,” observed Craig Stewart, Vice President Federal Affairs at IBC. “As evidenced by the broad federal representation at this year’s event, CatIQ Connect provided a timely opportunity to share our mutual progress in the interest of consumers.”

Further discussion included how we can become more resilient to different types of severe events, such as earthquakes, wind, hail, flooding, and the mental health impacts of home and business owners, first responders and claims teams. Alister Campbell, President & CEO of PACICC described CatIQ Connect as a forum “where worst case meets best practice!” Having a plan in place before a disaster is important to ensuring a smooth recovery process, and CatIQ Connect supports the collaboration needed in the industry and across sectors.

Over 25 organizations participated as sponsors or partners of the event, including CRU Group, The Co-operators and IBC as Platinum Sponsors. Other sponsors included major reinsurance brokers, reinsurance companies, flood risk organizations, cat modelers, imagery specialists, and restoration and emergency management companies.

The success of the 2020 CatIQ Connect event was driven by the oversight of an outstanding Steering Committee. Representation included:

Jim Abraham, President, ClimAction Services Inc.
William Belzile, Geographic Information System Advisor, Desjardins General Insurance Group
Alister Campbell, CEO, PACICC
Claudette Cantin, Chief Actuary and CRO, Munich Re Canada
Paul Cutbush, SVP, Catastrophe Management, Aon
Esaie Djossou, AVP of Reinsurance, CAT Underwriting, International Underwriting and Data & Insights functions, Aviva Canada
Dr. David Etkin, Professor, Disaster and Emergency Management, York University
Dr. Blair Feltmate, Head, Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, University of Waterloo
Dr. Maryam Golnaraghi, Director, Climate Change & Emerging Environmental Topics, Geneva Association
Sean Hobson, VP, National Programs, WINMAR (Canada) International Ltd.
Glenn McGillivray, Managing Director, ICLR
Ryaz Mohamed, Director, Corporate Reinsurance, The Co-operators Group
Shawna Peddle, Program Director, Community Economic Development Funds, The Co-operators Group
Sean Russell, Managing Director, Guy Carpenter
Craig Stewart, VP, Federal Affairs, IBC
Geneviève Thouin, Project Director, MCIP, FCM
Dwayne Torrey, Director, Construction & Infrastructure Standards, CSA Group
Laura Twidle, Managing Director, CatIQ
Rebecca Wagner, Associate Director, MSC, ECCC
Kyle Winston, President, CRU Group Inc.
Anna Ziolecki, Director, Partners for Action

CatIQ Connect will return to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre February 1-3, 2021. View 2020 event photos.

Catastrophes CatIQ Platform

CatIQ Announces Major Platform Enhancements

Post author By Caroline Floyd
Post date October 25, 2019

Toronto (October 10, 2019) – CatIQ has today announced the implementation of a series of new features on their state-of-the-art platform, which includes the introduction of several powerful visualization tools.

The CatIQ platform houses the Canadian insurance industry’s loss and exposure database, as well as other catastrophe-related information. The platform enhancements make available additional tools for the visualization of pre- and post-catastrophe information and the Industry Exposure Database (IED).

To complement CatIQ’s existing catastrophe forecasts, upgrades to the platform introduce a series of new data feeds from external sources including:

Radar and cloud cover
Earthquakes
Hurricanes
Water levels
Wildfires
Significant weather outlooks

These augmentations provide CatIQ subscribers with quick access to comprehensive datasets to support quick and effective decision-making. IED Subscribers can now visualize industry and their own exposures and measure sensitivity to loss for catastrophe forecasts in real time. Participating primary insurance companies can also visually compare their own exposure to the industry at the FSA level (first three digits of postal code), by business line and peril type.

Commenting on the new platform capabilities, Laura Twidle, Managing Director at CatIQ, said: “Through our CatIQ platform, we aim to provide a one-stop-shop for catastrophe information. Having swift access to a wide range of information to help make informed decisions is critical to all industry stakeholders, and we believe that these platform enhancements enable exactly that.”

A webinar tutorial on the new platform capabilities will be available to CatIQ subscribers on Wednesday, October 30, 2019 at 1 pm EDT. For more information, please contact Laura Twidle at the details listed below.

The first Canadian IED was released in June 2018. The IED now contains year-end data for 2016, 2017 and 2018. The 2019 IED will be released in the spring of 2020.

CatIQ Connect

Registration for the Fifth Annual Canadian Catastrophe (CAT) Conference has Opened

Post author By Caroline Floyd
Post date September 25, 2019

Toronto (September 11, 2019) – CatIQ is pleased to announce that registration for its fifth annual Canadian catastrophe conference, CatIQ Connect, is now open. CatIQ Connect is being held February 3-5, 2020 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. CatIQ Connect will kick off with a review of the events from 2019, which is sure to be interesting, given the weather activity in 2019 so far.

Canadian insured catastrophic losses have reached nearly $900 million thus far in 2019 and these do not include the impacts from Post-Tropical Storm Dorian according to CatIQ (Catastrophe Indices & Quantification Inc.). Impactful weather events are on the rise, and government and industry must look to implement solutions to mitigate the increasing cost of catastrophes.

CatIQ Connect is a content-driven conference designed to foster collaboration between sectors relating to resilience and recovery in the face of catastrophes. “We are thrilled to be hosting the fifth annual catastrophe conference and, once again, our steering committee has put together a phenomenal agenda,” said Laura Twidle, Managing Director of CatIQ. “The 2020 event will focus on solutions; we want attendees to leave with information on how they can take the next step in mitigating risk and planning.”

CatIQ Connect is designed for:

Insurance/Reinsurance Professionals
All Levels of Government
Academia/Researchers
Risk Managers
NGO’s
Other sectors/organizations dealing with resilience to catastrophes

Keynote:

Roy Wright, President & CEO, Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS)

The CatIQ Connect 2020 Agenda features 30+ expert speakers. Highlights include:

Interactive Workshop
Leadership and Financial Solutions to Climate Change
Financing Climate Resilient Infrastructure
The War Story – 48h Post-CAT
Resilience: The Whys and Hows
Mental Health and Disasters
The Fort McMurray Rebuild
Different Views of Earthquake
Communication Tools for Preparedness and Recovery
Flood Resilient Design for New Residential Communities
Governmental Views on Moving Out or Staying Put
Risk Assessment – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Save $100 by registering early and save a further $100 per person by registering three or more at https://connect.catiq.com

Once again, this year’s Steering Committee includes leading organizations concerned with adaptation and management related to Canadian catastrophes, including:

Jim Abraham 2020 Co-emceeand President, ClimAction Services Inc.	Glenn McGillivray Managing Director,ICLR
William Belzile GIS Advisor, Desjardins General Insurance Group	Ryaz Mohamed Director, Corporate Reinsurance, The Co-operators Group
Alister Campbell CEO, PACICC	Shawna Peddle 2020 Co-emcee and Director, Disaster Risk Reduction, Canadian Red Cross
Claudette Cantin SVP, Chief Actuary and CRO, Munich Re Canada	Sean Russell Managing Director, Guy Carpenter
Paul Cutbush SVP Catastrophe Management,Aon Benfield Analytics	Craig Stewart VP, Federal Affairs, IBC
Esaie Djossou AVP of Reinsurance, CAT Underwriting, International Underwriting and Data and Insights functions, Aviva Canada	Genevieve Thouin Project Director, MCIP, FCM
Dr. Blair Feltmate Head, Intact Centre onClimate Adaption,University of Waterloo	Dwayne Torrey Director, Construction & Infrastructure,Standards, CSA Group
Dr. Maryam Golnaraghi Director, Climate Change and Emerging Environmental Topics, The Geneva Association	Rebecca Wagner Associate Director,Meteorological Service of Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada
Sean Hobson VP, National Programs, WINMAR (Canada) International Ltd.	Kyle Winston Co-founder & President,CRU Group Inc.
	Anna Ziolecki Director, Partners for Action>