US Property Risk Underwriting Techniques

Course Introduction

US Property Insurance is a cornerstone of the global market, and success in this area demands strong technical expertise. This course is designed to help delegates build confidence in underwriting US Property risks across both Open Market and Delegated business. Through practical examples and market insights, participants will strengthen their technical skills, deepen their understanding of key challenges, and take away strategies that can be applied immediately to add value in their roles.

This interactive online insurance training session will help delegates review property risks to understand common issues around occupancies and construction.  It will also provide technical knowledge of applying CAT pricing, claims experience to analyse performance and highlight remediation if needed, and how to apply.  The course is interactive and involves delegates in numerous exercises to cement their learning.

Who should attend

This session would be suitable for those with a base knowledge of US Property Insurance, looking to build out technical underwriting skills, or those within other departments looking to build knowledge.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, delegates will be able to:

• Assess commercial property risks using COPE details, location data, and risk submissions.
• Identify and underwrite common occupancies and construction types, recognising key risk factors.
• Apply online tools such as mapping and crime reports to support risk evaluation.
• Calculate and apply First Loss Scales across primary and excess layers in property placements.
• Analyse claims experience to identify performance trends and recommend remedial actions.
• Interpret CAT modelling outputs (EP Curves, AAL, CAT %) to assess risk quality and pricing adequacy.
• Integrate underwriting, claims, and modelling insights to form a comprehensive risk assessment.

Course Content

• How to asses a Commercial Property risk:
  • Review risk submission details
  • Location
  • COPE detail
  • Concerns or questions to answer
• Common Occupancies, including common issues and how to underwrite these
• Common Constructions, including common issues and how to underwrite these
• How to use online tools including mapping, crime reports for risk assessment
• How to apply First Loss Scale:
  • Recap of FAC placements
  • Primary Layers
  • Excess of Loss layers
  • Layer worth & calculations
• Reviewing claims experience to identify trends:
  • Attrition claims
  • Large Loss claims
  • CAT Claims
  • Resolutions / actions to take?
• Reviewing CAT modelling to help asses risk quality:
  • EP Curves & Average Annual Loss
  • Calculating CAT %
  • Calculating Premium/AAL ratio
  • Difference between both & what they identify
• Combining all details outlined to asses risks