January 25, 2019 | Intelligent Insurer

MarketScout, the electronic insurance exchange and specialty managing general agent (MGA) in the US, has launched a new MGA facility specifically designed to offer additional capacity to cover wildfire risk.

The MGA facility, called WildCat, has been launched at a time when some other carriers are exiting the market in the aftermath of several years of catastrophe losses from this risk.

Insured losses for 2018 alone have been calculated in the billions. As a result, the California personal lines market is trending toward a hard market, with rates for brush exposed properties trending towards increases from 10 percent to 50 percent.

“The brush and wildfire issues in California are similar to the windstorm issues suffered in Florida 12 to 14 years ago. Many insurers are trying to exit the California market,” said Richard Kerr, MarketScout’s CEO. “MarketScout has extensive personal lines underwriting expertise that has enabled us to develop new, much needed capacity.”

WildCat, which is available in all Western states, will also offer DIC and Wrap coverage options.

“We work very hard to generate an underwriting profit for our insurer partners,” said Chris Hatt, EVP of MarketScout Private Client Solution. “By utilizing our internal expertise and the brush fire modeling tools provided by HazardHub, we are able to make proper risk selection which will assure underwriters a profitable book of business.”