Verisk has won InsuranceERM's catastrophe risk modelling solution of the year for developing an industry-first modelling solution that targets growing risks concerning political violence and civil commotion.

Verisk has developed the industry's first probabilistic Strikes Riots and Civil Commotion (SRCC) catastrophe model for the US providing a solution that matches the actuarial rigour and transparency of cat modelling.

While insurers historically relied on more qualitative criteria to evaluate this risk type, Verisk's solutions frames the SRCC risk as a stochastic catastrophe issue, providing underwriters and exposure managers the ability to quantitatively project potential losses with a level of precision historically applied to natural catastrophes.

The solution also allows insurers to assess SRCC risk changes between cities as well as within them through ZIP-code level modelling, allowing them to assess such catastrophes at a granular level.

This granularity also extends to a specific risk event, with the model allowing for location-specific loss estimates for fire, looting, vandalism that are often associated with civil unrest.