P2P startup Lemonade gained its license to start selling renters and homeowners insurance in Illinois. QBA North America and a few partners will start offering a new national workers’ compensation and occupational accident insurance program. Verisk Analytics’ Property Claims Services has a new product/services that provides industry loss estimates for ocean marine and offshore energy events. FM Global debuted an interactive Global Flood Map to help companies manage this increasing and potentially costly risk.

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Lemonade, a peer-to-peer insurance startup focused on renters and homeowners insurance, has been licensed as a full-stack insurance carrier in Illinois.

In mid-2016, Lemonade gained its first insurance carrier license in New York. The fledgling insurer has also filed for a license to operate in 47 states and the District of Columbia. Lemonade said it hopes to reach 97 percent of the U.S. population in 2017.

Lemonade uses software known as bots to deliver insurance through its app and at lemonade.com. Consumers also file claims with the bot, which can pay claims instantly and without human intervention. Lemonade takes a flat fee for insurance and gives back any unclaimed money to causes policyholders care about.

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QBE North America is linking with High Point Underwriters and Midwestern Insurance Alliance to offer a national workers’ compensation and occupational accident insurance program for the transportation market.

The program allows for employee drivers to be included on a workers compensation policy, and the owner-operators on an occupational accident and contingent liability policy with the same insurance company. This program will offer coverage nationally through QBE insurance companies on an admitted and non-admitted basis.

Louisville, Ky.-based Midwestern Insurance Alliance is a national workers’ compensation program administrator focused on the trucking market for over 30 years, while Morris Plains, New Jersey-based High Point Underwriters is an occupational accident program administrator.

QBE North America is an operating division of global insurer QBE Insurance Group Limited.

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Property Claims Services (PCS) has unveiled PCS Global Marine and Energy. The loss aggregation service provides industry loss estimates for ocean marine and offshore energy events likely to exceed $250 million globally.

Photo: Wikimedia

PCS, a Verisk Analytics business, says the product is its first outside the property catastrophe sector.

PCS said it launched the new service because of direct market feedback pointing to the need for disciplined, independent, and reliable industry loss estimates for marine and energy. PCS said the product gives insurers, reinsurers and other stakeholders in the global risk and capital supply chain access to an unbiased view of the industry loss for large non-elemental events around the world.

Additionally, customers can use the index to facilitate reinsurance and alternative risk-transfer transactions, an area where the need for a loss aggregation service has been widely recognized.

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Johnston, R.I.-based FM Global said it has created an interactive Global Flood Map to help companies manage this increasing and potentially costly risk.

The product provides business executives with a strategic planning tool, while it helps risk managers address worldwide natural hazard exposures, FM Global said in a statement, adding that a version of the new map is available for use by businesses and the public at no cost.

The new map can make initial loss-prevention and site-location decisions easier, by helping businesses accurately determine whether their locations are in or out of potential flood zones, said the company.

The Global Flood Map provides a worldwide view of high- and moderate-hazard flood zones, even in areas where previously available information was either nonexistent, inconsistent or unreliable.

Users can now quickly determine whether their business locations reside in a flood zone simply by typing in physical addresses.

Sources: Lemonade, QBE North America, PCS, FM Global