QBE North America modernized its equipment breakdown coverage to now cover microelectronic failures. Catastrophe risk management firm RMS unveiled a new app for its clients.

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QBE North America plans to beef up its equipment breakdown coverage so it will also cover microelectronic failures.

Plans call for the insurer, an operating division of QBE Insurance Group, to expand its existing Equipment Breakdown coverage beyond evidence of physical damage to circuit boards, computer chips and other micro-circuitry.

The plan also helps policyholders recover from damage to systems or equipment that can’t be easily traced. It’s also designed to help recoup the costs of a microelectronic failure, including business interruption, data loss and reputational damage.

As well, the coverage also includes enhancements to existing service-interruption coverage for cloud computing services, and adds data restoration coverage for data lost due to loss of electrical power or other utility service interruption.

There’s also off-premises business income and extra expense coverage for mobile equipment and technology, as well as new public relations coverage to help commercial entities get past equipment failure-related business interruption and reputational issues.

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Catastrophe risk management firm RMS said it has launched a new app designed to boost the ability to independently assess and underwrite parametric contracts from a small group of cedant, brokers and underwriters to all insurers/reinsurers or insurance-linked securities funds.

RMS calls the launch a “cat-in-a-box app” – which refers to deals that provide cover for a particular kind of catastrophe in a particular geographical “box.”

Right now, only a number of insurers/reinsurers and ILS funds have underwritten these types of transactions, which require the purchase of customized analytics based on parametric hazard data to quantify the risk.

RMS said its cat-in-the-fox app lets any firm access the data directly, and generate its own results through a user-friendly graphical interface, onto which “boxes” can be placed to generate exceedance probability curves, probability of attachment, and other risk metrics. As well, the app includes historical hurricane tracks for assessment.

Sources: QBE North America, RMS