Palomar Specialty Launches Private Residential Flood Program in California

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- - Palomar Specialty Insurance Company is pleased to announce the launch of Flood Guard, a private flood program in California that uses a highly advanced and granular proprietary rating system. Palomar used catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide's probabilistic flood model for the United States in its rate filing. AIR Worldwide is a Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq: VRSK) business.

"We are extremely pleased to become the first admitted insurance company to successfully launch a stand-alone residential flood insurance product in California," said Jon Christianson, chief operating officer at Palomar Specialty. "Historically, the insurance industry has struggled to develop new products for hazards such as flood. That has changed with the introduction of AIR's innovative new flood model for the U.S. Now there's a credible probabilistic model in the market that enables Palomar to thoughtfully and competitively price a flood insurance product in the private market."

Flood Guard provides innovative residential flood coverage and is an alternative to FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Through its sophisticated rating algorithm and online platform, Flood Guard offers affordable coverage and provides agents the ability to quote and bind coverage in just minutes. Palomar Specialty is writing Flood Guard exclusively through agents appointed with Prospect General Insurance Agency.

"Palomar Specialty has a wealth of experience leveraging technology and catastrophe analytics to automate our earthquake and wind products. Flood Guard is a natural extension of our analytical approach in developing new products that resonate with agents and property owners," said Palomar Specialty CEO Mac Armstrong.

In October 2014, AIR Worldwide released a detailed, physically based probabilistic inland flood model for the United States, the first of its kind. The flood model provides insurers and other stakeholders with a comprehensive tool for assessing and managing inland flood risk at a high resolution for locations on and off the many and varied floodplains across the United States.

"We applaud Palomar for its efforts to bring flood insurance to the private market," said Rob Newbold, executive vice president, AIR Worldwide. "By using AIR's probabilistic flood model in its rate filing, Palomar is paving the way for more homeowners and businesses to get flood insurance in the state of California. The company truly is an innovator in this space and is helping to create a strong and vibrant private flood insurance market."

Keywords for this news article include: Palomar Specialty Insurance Company.

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