Index value
The peril footprint measured against your contract's index definition, in a file the settlement analyst can load into their own calculation. Replaces the point reading in the ledger's third row.
An independent reading for the day your trigger is tested.
A before and after read of the peril footprint from wide-swath satellite imagery, measured against your contract's own index definition and logged for the file.
- GSD
- Wide / 10–30 m
- Cadence
- Event driven
- Platform
- Wide-swath satellite
- Spectral
- Multispectral
When one station has to settle the contract
Your contract names a source for the index, and after a qualifying event someone pulls it and checks it against the trigger. That source may be a single ground station, an official bulletin that arrives after the settlement window has started, or the counterparty's own notice of loss.
The hard ones land on your desk: the reading sits near the attachment point, or the station sat outside the footprint, and the policyholder says the event happened. You then defend a number to them and to your reinsurer, and the only evidence is the same source you started with.
Reading the event, then and now
Choosing the evidence for a payout
Your source todayThe index source written into the contract: a station, a gauge, a bulletin, sometimes the counterparty's notice.
With an independent observationA second reading taken from satellite imagery over the whole peril footprint, tied to the contract's own index definition.
Still yoursThe index definition and threshold. They come from the contract, not from us.
Knowing an event has qualified
Your source todayYou hear from the policyholder, the broker or the bulletin, and open the file by hand.
With an independent observationAn observation window opens when a qualifying event occurs, against the footprint you named.
Reading the footprint
Your source todayA point reading, or a reading from the nearest station, stands in for the area.
With an independent observationA before and after comparison of the whole footprint from wide-swath multispectral imagery.
Calling the trigger
Your source todayThe calculation agent compares the source to the threshold and declares the trigger met or not.
With an independent observationA determination of met or not met against your stated threshold, with the report behind it.
Still yoursThe decision to pay. A determination is evidence for the settlement, not the settlement.
Answering a dispute
Your source todayThe same source, re-read, and an argument about whether it saw the event.
With an independent observationAn audit trail of the imagery used, its dates and the observation window, which you can put in front of both sides.
Timing against the settlement window
Your source todayAs slow as the source. A bulletin can land after the window has run.
With an independent observationA determination once a usable pass inside the observation window has been processed. Cloud can push that pass later.
What comes back after an event
- Data fileReading the footprint
- PDFChoosing the evidence for a payout
Observation report
The before and after imagery read, with a methodology note and the scene dates. One report per observation window, written to sit in the claim file next to the calculation agent's report.
- PDF, one pageCalling the trigger
Trigger determination
Met or not met against the threshold you stated, with the index value it rests on. It feeds your settlement decision and makes none.
- LogAnswering a dispute
Audit trail
Imagery source, acquisition dates and the observation window, recorded so a dispute or a reinsurer's review can trace the reading back.
How it works
Before the seasonagree the definition
You give us the contract's peril, index, threshold and observation window, and the footprint it covers. We set the observation up against that definition as written, and it does not change after inception.
When an event qualifiesthe window opens
You tell us an event has occurred, or the contract's own trigger condition does. The observation window opens against the footprint.
First usable passimagery is measured
The first clear wide-swath multispectral pass inside the window is compared with the before state and measured against the index. If cloud blocks the pass, the next usable one is taken, inside the window.
Thendetermination and audit trail
You receive the index value, the report, the determination and the audit trail. Your team decides the settlement.
Limits
What the old source still does better
Cloud sets the date
Optical and multispectral imagery sees through some haze, not thick cloud. A determination waits for a usable pass, and a window with none may end without one. A ground station reads through weather.
10–30 m is the floor
A pixel covers a large patch of ground. This suits large-area peril footprints. It cannot read a single building, field edge or plot.
Surface signs only
The reading shows what the imagery shows of the footprint. Where your index depends on something a satellite cannot see, such as a wind speed at a point or an amount of rain, your station stays the primary source.
Not a payout or a ruling
It is evidence. It does not pay, it does not guarantee a payout and it does not decide a dispute. That is the contract's clause and, in the end, yours.
No accuracy figure
We do not quote an accuracy percentage for the index value or the determination. Any such figure would have to come from validating against your own events.
Who it's for
Stay with your current source if you
- Need a point reading at one location, such as wind speed at a site. A station does that.
- Need building-level or plot-level detail. The resolution here is too coarse.
- Want the payout executed for you, or a legal ruling on a dispute. This supplies neither.
Switch if you
- Lead a parametric product and want a second, independent reading to settle against.
- Have seen a station miss an event, or a bulletin arrive after the settlement window.
- Answer to a reinsurer or a policyholder who wants the evidence behind the number.
Questions from product, claims and reinsurance
Who is this observation independent from?
It comes from satellite imagery measured against your contract's own index definition. It does not rely on the policyholder's claim or on the counterparty's.
Does it replace the source named in the contract?
Not automatically. The contract decides which source settles it. This is a second reading you can write in as the source, or use beside the existing one.
What if there is cloud cover during the window?
Multispectral imagery sees through some haze, not thick cloud. The observation waits for the next usable pass inside the window. If none comes, the report says so and does not guess.
What resolution is this built from?
10–30 m, wide-swath. It suits large-area footprints and not building-level detail.
Can the index definition change after the contract is written?
No. The observation is built against the definition agreed at inception.
How fast is a determination delivered?
Once a usable pass inside the window has been processed. The date depends on the orbit and on cloud, so we do not promise a fixed turnaround.
Does this replace a dispute-resolution clause?
No. It is the evidence base for one, not a legal determination.
How do we check it against our own events?
Run it beside your current source on a past event, or on the next one, and compare the two readings against the threshold. Tell us which events you can test on when the pilot is scoped.
How is it priced, and how do we buy it?
A pilot is scoped and quoted on its own, by contract and footprint. You get a written scope to take through procurement. Data rights and use terms are written into that contract.
Pilot an independent reading on your next contract.
Or what a pilot on your index would involve.