"Commercial property is still mostly assessed on historical losses and information that's refreshed once a year. What we've built is a platform that turns that into a live view of risk. "

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Key Points:

- New carrier launched in Bermuda

- Launch off new MGA in UK

- Fresh view on commercial property

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The boss of a new Bermuda company dedicated to commercial property risks is in Monte Carlo this week for discussions with capacity providers. He believes the company can bring a data-led underwriting proposition to this line of business in a unique way - but is also wary of a softening market.

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Donald Harrell was unveiled as global chief executive officer, insurance, domusIQ Risk Holding (Bermuda) last week. His appointment aligned with the launch of a new UK MGA, domusIQ MGA (UK), which will do the underwriting. Harrell has previously worked at Willis Re, Aspen Insurance, Liberty International, CV Starr and AIG.

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He explains that the two businesses complement each other - the Bermuda entity will provide the capital and the MGA the know-how. Together, he believes they will bring a fresh approach to commercial property risks.

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"They're two halves of the same strategy. Commercial property is still mostly assessed on historical losses and information that's refreshed once a year, even though buildings are now throwing off continuous data= through sensors, telemetry, incident feeds - all of it. What we've built is a platform that turns that into a live view of risk," he told Monte Carlo Today.

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The Bermuda holding company is where the capital, governance and strategic framework sit; the UK MGA is where that intelligence actually gets applied to underwriting.

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"The timing wasn't an accident. Monte Carlo is where capacity conversations for 1 January really start, and we wanted to show up with something the market could engage with, not just a concept. With pricing softening the way it is, risk selection matters more than ever, so there isn't a much better moment for a data-led underwriting proposition to land."

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The Bermuda edge

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He explained the company launched in Bermuda because of the access it offers to sophisticated reinsurers, regulators and capital providers, all in one market. He praises the Bermuda Monetary Authority's expertise and experience dealing with companies of this nature.

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"[The BMA] has dealt with plenty of businesses like ours before, ones that mix technology, advisory and risk-bearing activities, so they know how to supervise it properly. And it's the natural home if you want to engage with insurance-linked securities and other forms of alternative capital.

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For us, being in Bermuda is about access - to capital, counterparties and supervision that actually understands what we're doing.

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Asked about the launch of the MGA, he explains this complements the Bermuda launch and is an efficient way to underwrite.

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"An MGA lets specialist teams build portfolios efficiently and gives insurers a way into risks they might not be set up to underwrite themselves. The problem is a lot of MGAs are still working off the same submissions, historical losses and once-a-year risk data as everyone else," he said.

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"We came at it from the other direction. domusIQ started as a data and analytics business and we added underwriting because the platform gave us a genuinely different view of risk. We combine current building condition data with continuous monitoring of more than 10,000 event sources and, this is the bit that matters most, we can actually use that intelligence while the policy is live.

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"If a flood is heading for a property, or something else threatens it, an early warning might give the insured time to protect their equipment, human lives and reduce the loss down. We're not just here to pay claims well. We want to help prevent and mitigate losses in the first place, and that creates a much stronger alignment between the insured, the capacity providers and us."

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A bigger plan

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He acknowledges the business will be judged on risk selection and loss performance, not how much premium it has written. But if it does this, it will add product lines and maybe a captive platform. "Longer term, the holding company becomes the home for a much broader mix of technology, advisory and capital services."

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The company's long-term vision, he says, is to build a vertically integrated proposition for commercial real estate: real-time risk analytics on one side, insurance optimisation on the other. "We're building that by connecting building data, operational insights, risk scoring, risk transfer, underwriting and insurance services into one ecosystem. Do that well, and it's genuinely hard for anyone to replicate piece by piece."

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He is cognisant this goal might be harder in a softening market. In Monte Carlo, he thinks the pace of softening will dominate every conversation. Capital is strong, property-cat pricing has come down and buyers have got their leverage back, he says. "The real question is how far pricing can fall before underwriting discipline starts to crack."

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Published from Intelligent Insurer MC

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