SpatialKey and IHS Markit Collaborate to Offer Political Violence Risk Intelligence Data to Insurers

Denver, CO (PRWEB) September 20, 2017

Political violence risks, which include terrorism, civil unrest and war perils, are dynamic and highly differentiated geographically--not just at a country level, but also within cities. According to IHS Markit, militants conducted 24,202 attacks worldwide in 2016, up from 18,987 in 2015. Islamic State was the most operationally active militant group tracked by IHS Markit, accounting for 18 percent of all recorded attacks worldwide and 39 percent of all non-militant fatalities.

It's clear the threat landscape is becoming more complex with more advanced, well organized attacks directed by Islamic State and other groups, combined with an increased frequency of hard to prevent "lone wolf" attacks that use simple weapons and tactics. For insurers, while property damage is still the primary loss driver, advanced data and analytics are helping to better protect against business interruption risks. In this context, insurers require tools to rapidly understand global risk and identify opportunities to meet the evolving needs of their customers.

SpatialKey's underwriting and exposure management solutions provide insurers with the ability to exploit faster, better intelligence to price, select and manage risk; thereby, improving underwriting profitability while reducing the downstream costs associated with reinsurance and claims. IHS Markit's Foresight Country Risk offering delivers global high-resolution, location-specific risk scores covering the full range of political violence perils, as well as intelligence-based terror targets and a comprehensive repository of dynamically updated events.

Today's newly announced collaboration was developed in partnership with Talbot Underwriting. As a leader in their space, Talbot was the first to realize the potential of bringing together SpatialKey's advanced analytics with IHS Markit's industry-leading data: instant access to the insight needed to advance their terror underwriting strategy.

"The collaboration between SpatialKey and IHS Markit has enlightened our process for analysing terrorism risks and managing accumulations," explains Steven Tebbutt, Global Practice Leader for Political Violence at Talbot Underwriting. "Through SpatialKey's platform, our underwriters and exposure managers have direct and immediate access to political violence risk index data from IHS Markit, empowering them to leverage political violence data against our current and new exposures. This, combined with SpatialKey's visualizations and tailored workflow, leads to more and better data-informed decisions. We're thrilled to see this collaboration come to life and believe that it will further empower our terror insights."

SpatialKey President Bret Stone adds, "The proverbial 'necessity is the mother of invention' rings true in this case. Talbot recognized the best way to achieve their underwriting goals was to advocate the collaboration of two innovators, IHS Markit and SpatialKey. Our solution is innovating choice and access to expert data, enabling insurers, like Talbot, to effectively select and respond to dynamic risks. We're thrilled to collaborate with the recognized experts at IHS Markit to deliver tangible insight directly to decision makers."

Michael Simms, Executive Director, Country Risk at IHS Markit explains, "Talbot is proof that leading insurers trust our forward-looking political violence and terrorism data to make risk selection and pricing decisions every day. Bringing together our risk intelligence data with exposure data in an advanced platform like SpatialKey helps insurers expand their ability to incorporate multiple types of risk insights at scale across their portfolios."

About SpatialKey: We build technology that simplifies how insurers gain insights from information. We bundle everything insurers need--the best data, mapping, and analytics--in apps that help them streamline their decision-making. More than 100 insurers trust our innovative, off-the-shelf solutions for underwriting, exposure management, and claims to help them achieve healthier portfolios, operations, and profits. Learn more at https://www.spatialkey.com.

About IHS Markit: IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO) is a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions for the major industries and markets that drive economies worldwide. The company delivers next-generation information, analytics and solutions to customers in business, finance and government, improving their operational efficiency and providing deep insights that lead to well-informed, confident decisions. IHS Markit has more than 50,000 key business and government customers, including 85 percent of the Fortune Global 500 and the world's leading financial institutions. Headquartered in London, IHS Markit is committed to sustainable, profitable growth. For more information on country risk data and analysis from IHS Markit, visit: https://www.ihs.com/products/economics-country-risk-forecasting.html

About Talbot Underwriting: Talbot Underwriting operates within the Lloyd's Insurance Market through Syndicate 1183. With an expert team of highly skilled and experienced underwriters and a balanced, geographically diverse portfolio of business, Talbot has earned a reputation as an industry leading insurance and reinsurance specialist. Talbot writes a diversified portfolio including Marine, Aviation, Transport, Energy, Terrorism, Political Risk, Accident and Health, Construction, Contingency, Financial lines, Property and Treaty Reinsurance. Drawing on our deep industry expertise, Talbot develops tailored insurance solutions that address clients' evolving and often unique needs. Find out more at https://www.talbotuw.com

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