As climate risks grow, U.K. insurance providers are being urged[iv] to bring portfolio-level exposure and accumulation data into property underwriting at new business and renewals. Without a clear view of portfolio limits, the insurance market could be exposed to severe losses as extreme weather events become more frequent or severe.
Caroline Elliott-Grey, senior product manager, insurance, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, U.K. and Ireland, says: "Assessing risk at an individual property level using geospatial intelligence data is important. However, as the climate changes, underwriters also need to understand how accepting a risk will affect the wider portfolio. The challenge is that accumulation and exposure data held by catastrophe and exposure management teams is often updated only periodically and remains separate from the underwriting process.
“As climate-related perils evolve, an area’s exposure profile can change significantly between reports. This can increase the likelihood that underwriters will renew a policy or write new business without realising how much risk is already concentrated in a particular location. This gap between portfolio risk intelligence and underwriting means insurance providers could be exposed to concentrated losses when a major weather event occurs.”
LexisNexis® Map View, the geospatial data visualisation platform, continues to evolve along with the risks to help close this gap by bringing accumulation, exposure and location data into the underwriting workflow, from point-of-quote decisions through to portfolio-level management. It gives insurance underwriting and exposure teams a consistent way to work with location data day to day and enables a faster, more actionable view of property risk. For example, the latest enhancements to the Portfolio Management module allow insurance providers to identify accumulation hotspots, monitor defined geographic areas for changes in peril risk and exposure, and apply their own scores to selected areas.
For property insurers, this provides clearer portfolio visibility so accumulation risk can be identified before agreed limits are breached. Brokers can assess property risk more quickly and confidently, supporting better-informed placement decisions, while MGAs can grow with more confidence, adding portfolio and accumulation capabilities as their books evolve.
Elliott-Grey continues: "In a soft market, insurance providers are under pressure to assess property risk more fully and more quickly. Our flood-risk analysis underlines how important portfolio management has become within the underwriting process. As climate risks continue to evolve, insurance providers need more robust and timely insight into how individual decisions affect the wider portfolio. The latest enhancements to LexisNexis® Map View demonstrate our continued investment in helping insurance providers gain greater visibility of climate risk, from underwriting and pricing right through to portfolio management. As the climate changes, this one platform enables new business, renewal, catastrophe and exposure teams work to work in unison across the entire insurance process to help maintain profitability.
About LexisNexis Map View
LexisNexis Map View is a geospatial data visualisation platform designed to help insurance providers, brokers and MGAs analyse location-based risk with greater precision and less manual effort. The platform processes approximately 1 million transactions per month for insights on tens of millions of risk locations[v]. Its newest product enhancements fall into three areas: streamlining day-to-day analysis, sharpening the accuracy of location and flood assessments, and giving underwriting teams clearer oversight of accumulation and concentration risk across their portfolios.
Workflow Efficiencies
Saved Objects lets users save filters, shapes, annotations and views, so teams returning to the same regions, perils or policy concentrations can pick up where they left off rather than rebuilding each analysis.Shape Upload Tool allows users to bring in external geospatial files, such as storm paths, flood zones or client-defined risk areas and overlay them on their own data for added context.
Location and Peril Assessment Precision
Elevation Profile can highlight the height difference between a property and nearby water, adding context to flood review, location triage and event-response decisions.Location ID allows users to refine geocoded locations with custom coordinates, improving accuracy for farms, industrial sites, large commercial risks and properties without standard addresses.
Portfolio and Accumulation Management
Hotspots can automatically identify high concentrations of total sum insured within set radii, helping insurance providers spot exposure clusters and prioritise reviews.Monitored Zones can track policy counts and exposures within defined areas over time, supporting continuous monitoring of event-prone areas or target territories.User Scores can apply custom rules or scores to selected areas, giving underwriting teams control over how locations are treated, such as restricting quoting or adjusting excess, in line with their appetite.Fire Blocks can group buildings into blocks based on proximity and fire-spread assumptions, supporting fire accumulation analysis for urban commercial portfolios and city-based concentrations.
Selected Map View data and functionality are also available via API for insurance provider teams that need information delivered into their own quoting and underwriting systems. Available data and functionality may differ by product configuration and delivery channel.
As climate-related risks evolve, having a clearer view of exposure across an entire portfolio can help insurance providers understand how individual underwriting decisions affect the bigger picture. By bringing location, peril, accumulation and exposure intelligence closer to the point of quote for new business and renewals, insurance providers can identify potential concentration of risk earlier and make more informed decisions as their portfolios evolve.
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