Teams partner to create combined wind and flood risk models
Risk professionals will be able to access combined risk data on floods, tropical cyclones and hurricanes with an unprecedented level of detail
Today we announce our strategic partnership with Reask. Initially, the partnership enables us to re-sell each other’s data and services. From 2023 we will introduce what we believe will be an unparalleled view of risk data on the combined impact of flood and wind events (hurricanes, tropical cyclones and typhoons).
Experts in Wind X Water
Fathom is recognised as the leading flood risk modeller and Reask is the global expert in atmospheric hazard models. Together we aim to bring new hazard data maps and catastrophe risk models to market, covering the combined perils of flood and wind.
Recent events, like the one experienced in St Louis last month, evidence the growing impact that climate change is having on extreme weather. With increasing focus at Board level on the environmental component of ESG, risk professionals in insurance, capital markets, civil engineering, disaster response and government have a greater need than ever to understand the combined risk of floods and hurricanes. They also want to understand how the intensity of both will change and correlate in the years to come.
A pressing requirement
The project has been driven by the shared ethos of the two companies and strong market demand for better risk data and models. Lloyd’s of London’s report “Thematic Review: Catastrophe Modelling & Climate Change”, published in February 2022, identified the need for the industry to model the interrelated risk of flooding and tropical cyclones.
Shared vision
Our co-founder and COO, Dr Andrew Smith, has this to say on the partnership:
“Fathom and Reask share the same values and approach. We’re working towards the same goals and have many shared customers so this partnership was an easy decision for us both. Both organisations are led by scientists, who are committed to being transparent and open about the data, methodologies and machine learning techniques that sit at the heart of our models. This shared ‘glass box’ approach means that risk professionals can understand the work our academics put in, and customers know they can trust our models.”
Thomas Loridan, CEO at Reask shares a similar view:
“Cyclones bring heavy rains which cause floods. High winds cause tidal surges and large waves which increase coastal flooding – understanding the combined risk of wind and flood events will only get more important as we feel the impact of climate change. Fathom is a world leader in flood risk research and modelling, and we are proud to work with them to provide a new climate risk model that will benefit the insurance world and beyond.”
Speaking with our customers, the response to the collaboration has been unanimously positive:
“Vave has strong ties with Reask and Fathom. Both organisations share our commitment to scientific rigour and the championing of novel technology to underwrite complex risk. Best in class data is a critical element of our algorithmic underwriting platform and we’re looking forward to seeing the innovation this partnership will deliver.”
“Arup works closely with the Fathom team on projects around the world. They are the experts in flood hazards and risk and we greatly value their expertise. Their position in the scientific community and open approach to model and data transparency is unique – we like collaborating with them. We are excited about the combined wind and flood models Fathom and Reask are working on, especially for climate change and coastal adaptation and resilience applications.”
“ImageCat’s insurance platform clients already experience the benefits of high resolution global tropical cyclone data from Reask and flood data from Fathom. We are extremely pleased that our two partners are combining forces to model the interrelated and combined risks of wind and water, their joint project supports our commitment to bring innovative data and insights to the insurance risk market”
