Parametric based insurtech pays out one day after storm Ciara

Back-to-back storms swept through the UK in February with storm Ciara resulting in coastal and inland flooding causing 675,000 homes to lose electricity according to AIR Worldwide. But, specialist flood insurtech, FloodFlash was able to provide some businesses with peace of mind by offering a parametric insurance solution.

“The flooding started at 2pm on Sunday 8 February and claims were paid by the end of the day on Monday,” Chris Hall, marketing manager at FloodFlash, told Intelligent Insurer. Hall added that business such as Cafes and Farm Shops were able to benefit from the insurtech’s efficient claims process and that the company has now had claims resulting from storm Dennis.

FloodFlash is able to circumvent the lengthy assessment process and provide a payout to businesses within days of a triggering event according to Hall. “We install a proprietary sensor at every insured property that records flood data and the parametric policy is based around this flood data. Customers agree on the flood depth they want to insure and as soon as the flood reaches this level, the claim is triggered,” he said. What’s more, Hall told Intelligent Insurer that FloodFlash is basing its policies on individual businesses rather than more general postcodes.

The insurtech teamed up with Gallagher earlier in February 2020, one of the first brokers to offer FloodFlash to its clients. And while Hall said the company is currently not onboarding any new brokers, it is looking at US markets which represent key growth opportunities. FloodFlash has so far raised £2.1 million in investment.

In December 2019, the Bank of England pledged to scrutinise how UK lenders and insurers were able to cope with more frequent severe weather events like floods. This awareness of flood risk in the UK has been further heightened following Storm’s Ciara and Dennis.

Flood risk solutions are becoming ever more closely linked to technological innovation and this was echoed at insurtech Previsico’s recent event ‘how to build flood resilience with new forecasting technology’. At the event, Graham Brogden, advisory consultant at Previsico outlined that fact that one in six properties in the UK could be affected by flooding and that 40 percent of businesses never recover.

The insurtech has developed live FloodMap technology and claims its third-generation solution provides insurers with an early indication of total losses, improving claims efficiency and reducing fraud. In addition, live local forecasts enable insurers to advise customers to implement flood action plans and information on defending buildings and moving assets, such as vehicles, to higher ground.

https://floodflash.co/