Europe’s windstorm season is upon us. As always, the risk is particularly uncertain, and with Solvency II due smack in the middle of the season, there is greater imperative to really understand the uncertainty surrounding the peril—and manage windstorm risk actively. Business can benefit, too: new modeling tools to explore uncertainty could help (re)insurers to better assess how much risk they can assume, without loading their solvency capital.
Spikes and Lulls
The variability of European windstorm seasons can be seen in the record of the past few years. 2014-15 was quiet until storms Mike and Niklas hit Germany in March 2015, right at the end of the season. Though insured losses were moderate[1], had their tracks been different, losses could have been so much more severe.
In contrast, 2013-14 was busy. The intense rainfall brought by some storms resulted in significant inland flooding, though wind losses overall were moderate, since most storms matured before hitting the UK. The exceptions were Christian (known as St Jude in Britain) and Xaver, both of which dealt large wind losses in the UK. These two storms were outliers during a general lull of European windstorm activity that has lasted about 20 years.
During this quieter period of activity, the average annual European windstorm loss has fallen by roughly 35% in Western Europe, but it is not safe to presume a “new normal” is upon us. Spiky losses like Niklas could occur any year, and maybe in clusters, so it is no time for complacency.
Under Pressure
The unpredictable nature of European windstorm activity clashes with the demands of Solvency II, putting increased pressure on (re)insurance companies to get to grips with model uncertainties. Under the new regime, they must validate modeled losses using historical loss data. Unfortunately, however, companies’ claims records rarely reach back more than twenty years. That is simply too little loss information to validate a European windstorm model, especially given the recent lull, which has left the industry with scant recent claims data. That exacerbates the challenge for companies building their own view based only upon their own claims.
In March we released an updated RMS Europe Windstorm model that reflects both recent and historic wind history. The model includes the most up-to-date long-term historical wind record, going back 50 years, and incorporates improved spatial correlation of hazard across countries together with a enhanced vulnerability regionalization, which is crucial for risk carriers with regional or pan-European portfolios. For Solvency II validation, it also includes an additional view based on storm activity in the past 25 years. Pleasingly, we’re hearing from our clients that the updated model is proving successful for Solvency II validation as well as risk selection and pricing, allowing informed growth in an uncertain market.
Making Sense of Clustering
Windstorm clustering—the tendency for cyclones to arrive one after another, like taxis—is another complication when dealing with Solvency II. It adds to the uncertainties surrounding capital allocations for catastrophic events, especially due to the current lack of detailed understanding of the phenomena and the limited amount of available data. To chip away at the uncertainty, we have been leading industry discussion on European windstorm clustering risk, collecting new observational datasets, and developing new modeling methods. We plan to present a new view on clustering, backed by scientific publications, in 2016. These new insights will inform a forthcoming RMS clustered view, but will be still offered at this stage as an additional view in the model, rather than becoming our reference view of risk. We will continue to research clustering uncertainty, which may lead us to revise our position, should a solid validation of a particular view of risk be achieved.
Ongoing Learning
The scientific community is still learning what drives an active European storm season. Some patterns and correlations are now better understood, but even with powerful analytics and the most complete datasets possible, we still cannot yet forecast season activity. However, our recent model update allows (re)insurers to maintain an up-to-date view, and to gain a deeper comprehension of the variability and uncertainty of managing this challenging peril. That knowledge is key not only to meeting the requirements of Solvency II, but also to increasing risk portfolios without attracting the need for additional capital.
[1] Currently estimated by PERILS at 895m Euro, which aligns with the RMS loss estimate in April 2015
