Skip to main content

Marsh to Help Businesses Minimize Financial Loss From Pandemics

Marsh, a global leader in insurance broking and innovative risk management solutions, today launches PathogenRX, the first insurance solution of its kind that provides financial protection to US-based businesses and their global operations affected by an infectious disease outbreak.

“Pandemics and epidemics are not your average risk. They may occur over several months, are often not confined to a specific region, and their unpredictability means they can scale, grow, and become quite costly to a range of businesses from hotels and restaurants to schools and airlines,” said Martin South, President of Marsh’s US and Canada Division.

Over the last several decades, diseases such as Zika, MERS, and SARS have had drastic financial impacts on a number of industries that depend on people moving freely without fear for their safety and health. One recent study found that 90% of Miami, Florida, businesses in an area hit especially hard by the 2016 Zika virus outbreak, experienced revenue and profit losses of as much as 40%. Up until now, businesses have had no way to measure the potential economic loss from a pandemic or epidemic and effectively protect their bottom lines.

To solve for this, Marsh, in collaboration with Munich Re, a leading global reinsurer, and Metabiota, a pioneer in epidemic risk modeling, have created PathogenRX, a fully integrated pandemic risk solution. Using triggers like Metabiota’s new Pathogen Sentiment Index, which provides extensive analytics into infectious disease outbreaks, businesses can more confidently model their potential financial loss from an outbreak and protect against the threat through an insurance policy underwritten by Munich Re. The policy is highly customizable and can be tailored to provide coverage for specific expenses, geographies, types of disease, or portions of a calendar year.

“Metabiota’s mission is to make the world more resilient to epidemics and to accomplish this means working with insurance industry leaders, like Marsh and Munich Re, to develop new offerings to minimize the economic repercussions that can result from infectious diseases,” said Bill Rossi, CEO of Metabiota. “Our Pathogen Sentiment Index combines our team’s in-depth scientific knowledge with a novel way to measure the potential impact to consumer travel and spending as a result of an outbreak and trigger the necessary resources to offset it.”

“With PathogenRX, we are pushing the boundaries of insurability. Businesses now can better prepare for the potential of an epidemic or pandemic with a highly customizable risk modelling and transfer solution,” said Gunther Kraut, Head of Epidemic Risk Solutions at Munich Re. “This joint effort is an important part in our continued strategic push for innovation. It will pave a new frontier for the insurance industry by helping businesses become more resolute to the evolving health threats facing the world.”

About Marsh

A global leader in insurance broking and innovative risk management solutions, Marsh’s 30,000 colleagues advise individual and commercial clients of all sizes in over 130 countries. Marsh is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC), the leading global professional services firm in the areas of risk, strategy and people. With annual revenue over US$14 billion and nearly 65,000 colleagues worldwide, MMC helps clients navigate an increasingly dynamic and complex environment through four market-leading firms. In addition to Marsh, MMC is the parent company of Guy Carpenter, Mercer, and Oliver Wyman. Follow Marsh on Twitter @MarshGlobal; LinkedIn; Facebook; and YouTube, or subscribe to BRINK.

About Metabiota

Metabiota is the pioneer in comprehensive risk analytics that help organizations and countries build resilience to epidemics and protect global public health. Built on a strong foundation of scientific expertise, including a worldwide network of on-the-ground experts, Metabiota delivers actionable, data-driven analytics to help countries and corporations mitigate complex health issues. With a strategic global presence and sustained partnerships, Metabiota’s agile approach helps identify, analyze and transfer the risk associated with biological threats. The company’s international footprint includes operations in nearly 20 countries and offices in San Francisco, Canada, Sierra Leone, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. For more information, visit http://www.metabiota.com.

About Munich Re

Munich Re stands for exceptional solution-based expertise, consistent risk management, financial stability and client proximity. This is how Munich Re creates value for clients, shareholders and staff. In the financial year 2017, the Group – which combines primary insurance and reinsurance under one roof – achieved a profit of €0.4bn. It operates in all lines of insurance, with over 42,000 employees throughout the world. With premium income of around €32bn from reinsurance alone, it is one of the world’s leading reinsurers. Especially when clients require solutions for complex risks, Munich Re is a much sought-after risk carrier. Its primary insurance operations are concentrated mainly in ERGO, one of the leading insurance groups in Germany and Europe. ERGO is represented in over 30 countries worldwide and offers a comprehensive range of insurances, provision products and services. In 2017, ERGO posted premium income of €17.5bn. Munich Re’s global investments (excluding insurance-related investments) amounting to €218bn are managed by MEAG, which also makes its competence available to private and institutional investors outside the Group.

Contacts:

Marsh
Sally Roberts, 303-952-9453
sally.roberts@marsh.com

Data & News supplied by www.cloudquote.io
Stock quotes supplied by Barchart
Quotes delayed at least 20 minutes.
By accessing this page, you agree to the following
Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.