Flooding is a concern on the minds of many, particularly following the report from Swiss Re Institute which revealed that insured losses from floods doubled to $80 million from 2011-2020 – as compared to the previous decade. In an interview with IBTV, Chris Hall, head of marketing for FloodFlash, offered an update on how the UK’s flood picture has evolved, emphasising the role the insurance market must play in protecting people and economies alike.
Watch now: How has the UK’s flood picture changed?
“The UK’s flood picture is actually quite similar to five years ago,” he said. “The Met Office still sees the frequency of major storms increasing as we go year by year. The big changes really are less in terms of the climate itself - those changes happen over decades rather than in five- or one-year periods - the big changes are happening within insurance for those floods and the insurance market around it.”
Hall noted that shopping around to find the right solutions for their clients in the flood insurance market is something that brokers are currently doing very well. FloodFlash works with a lot of brokers that have flood risk clients, he said, and sees many of them go out to multiple underwriters to try and find them the right solutions. They’re also standing by and showing strong loyalty to those clients who are fielding increased flood risk.
“Where they could… stand to improve is being open to alternative risk transfer solutions, like FloodFlash, where they don’t need to necessarily take on those stress risks and look after those clients in quite the same way,” he said. “There are alternative ways of managing that risk and not actually absorbing it on your book.”
Offering his top tips for brokers looking to distinguish themselves in the market, Hall highlighted the need for them to shop around and ensure they’re taking the risk out to multiple different underwriters to find the best offering.
Watch now: How has the UK’s flood picture changed?
