A group of European insurers and reinsurers, including Allianz, AXA, Munich Re, Swiss Re and Zurich, have established PERILS AG, based in Zurich, to collect and provide industry-wide European catastrophe insurance data. PERILS is intended to provide a service similar to that provided by Property Claims Services (PCS) in relation to US catastrophes.

PERILS will provide two main products on a subscription basis:

– exposure data, to be provided on an annual basis, and

– loss estimates following covered natural catastrophe events.

Data will be catalogued by risk type and CRESTA zones.

The data provided by PERILS is expected to form the basis of future loss triggers for alternative risk transfer structures including catastrophe bonds and industry loss warranty (ILW) protections in relation to European catastrophe events. There has been a perceived lack of transparency in the triggers currently used for such products, often based on so-called parametric triggers (triggers which take scientific data connected with the catastrophe event modelled to equate to levels of industry loss) or on the loss estimates of risk modelling firms. As a result, the data is expected to improve insurers’ and reinsurers’ access to capacity in the capital markets, through insurance linked securities (ILS).

PERILS aims to be fully operational in key European countries later in 2009, initially providing exposure and loss information in connection with European wind risk. It is expected to expand to other European countries in 2010 and subsequently to expand its scope to cover other risk perils.