Around the P&C insurance industry: July 3, 2019
News from Accurence, The Hanover, CyberCube and more.
Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies recently added a Commercial Automobile product in Delaware, Kentucky, and the District of Columbia. The company’s policy is designed for local and intermediate travel exposures up to a 200-mile radius. According to CEO Sy Foguel, “We continue to expand our commercial lines portfolio nationwide to supply our network of independent agents with quality products that enable them to grow. Our Commercial Auto product, now available in 43 jurisdictions, is an ideal complement to our other lines of business in these territories, including Workers’ Compensation, Businessowner’s Policies, and Commercial Umbrella with more soon to follow.”
Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread announced the launch of the North Dakota Insurance Department’s LiveChat application on its redesigned website. This app is the first of its kind across all North Dakota state agencies. “Providing the LiveChat application and a more easily navigable website will allow us to assist North Dakotans more efficiently and share information more transparently,” Godfread said in a statement. The LiveChat app allows individuals to chat with department employees via the department’s website.
Worldwide Facilities, LLC, a national wholesale insurance brokerage, managing general agency and program manager announced the acquisition of Benchmark Management Group, Inc., a managing general agent and wholesale insurance broker serving the retail agent community with an array of specialty products.
CyberCube, the San Francisco based InsurTech company that delivers cyber risk analytics to the insurance industry, was selected among hundreds of candidates as one of the World Economic Forum’s “Technology Pioneers.” The Technology Pioneers were selected by a selection committee comprising of 59 academics, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and corporate executives. The committee based its decisions on criteria including innovation, potential impact, and leadership.
Greenlight Re Innovations (GRI), part of Greenlight Capital Re, a specialist property and casualty reinsurance company headquartered in the Cayman Islands, announced it has made a strategic investment in Battleface, Inc., a managing general agent specializing in insurance that covers travel to remote, unstable or dangerous locations.
RMS announced the release of two purpose-built underwriting solutions on RMS Risk Intelligence. The first, RMS Location Intelligence API, is a solution that links into insurers underwriting system, this API facilitates instant access to granular, location-specific information compiled from the most sophisticated hazard, exposure and loss data derived from RMS best-in-class modeling. Second, SiteIQ Application is a new service that enables underwriters to identify any outliers by offering risk instant hazard scores, risk scores, and loss costs, as well as view high resolution hazard maps; enabling users to assess single risks in the context of their current portfolio.
The Hanover Insurance Group announced that Hanover Prestige is now available in all of its personal lines markets for home, auto and condominiums. Hanover Prestige is a brand of market-leading personal insurance options designed for customers with complex coverage needs.
Accurence, Inc. announced that its acquisition of the software division of National Water, LLC was finalized on June 14, 2019. National Water is a Jacksonville, Fla.-based company dedicated to accurately estimating and auditing mitigation estimates from water losses and flood claims. Under the terms of the deal, National Water is now wholly absorbed into Accurence. As a result, the standards and guideline algorithms behind National Water’s existing software—PRIME Flood, PRIME P&C, and PRIME Audit—are planned to be completely incorporated into the Accurence product line, creating a unified suite of scoping and auditing tools. The National Water products will be renamed to conform to Accurence’s brand standards by the fourth quarter of 2019.