InsurTech startup Pricing Platform launches U1 app to transform commercial property underwriting and portfolio management

Commercial Property underwriting, whether in admitted market or in excess and surplus (E&S) or direct and facultative (D&F) space, remains a complex art due to its data limitations, non-homogenous risks, varying account sizes, shared and layered nature of business, convoluted terms and conditions and above all, constantly changing market forces. All insurance companies and syndicates use cat models to analyze certain cat perils. However, rating non-modeled perils and using all the available information to make an underwriting decision is often ad-hoc and subjective. Some established players have in-house developed systems that provide a structure to this process. But for the large majority of underwriters, the process is encumbered with multiple spreadsheets, re-entry of data and a lot of manual work.

A new Connecticut-based insurtech startup, Pricing Platform, is set to transform commercial property underwriting analyses and portfolio management with its new app, U1. Today, the startup announce the launch of its flagship app U1, the company is hoping to bring efficiency and structure to the underwriting process and make it an enjoyable experience for underwriters and cat modelers. U1 is a customizable underwriting workstation for Modeling, Pricing, Underwriting and Portfolio Management for Commercial Property Insurance.

Founded by by Sito Sarkar, who has previously been in various risk management and catastrophe modeling roles at Employers Re, IRI, Swiss Re and at Ironshore, Sito is a property risk and portfolio management specialist with close to 20 years of industry experience. He began his insurance career as a cat modeler with GE Capital, working in various risk management and underwriting positions at Employers Re, IRI, Swiss Re and at Ironshore. Sito’s career spans geographies (US, Bermuda, India) and products (commercial property insurance, property reinsurance and retro). Sito excels in understanding business problems, conceptualizing innovative solutions and implementing them through computer systems. Sito brings to the table a unique combination of knowledge of underwriting, markets, operations and technology.

Pricing Platform’s U1 app provides a ready-made solution to this case, saving time, increasing efficiency and consistency. And since underwriting analyses and decisions are made in the app, portfolio rollups and aggregates management are automatic and seamless. You also get access to a huge bank of your own data in a structured and useful way. The app framework is such that it is customizable for each client’s own needs, underwriting guidelines, models and pricing formula. U1 is highly customizable and is available as a cloud service or as an on-premises software. A tablet version is in the development.

Large and middle market commercial property underwriting, whether in admitted market or in the E&S/D&F space, remains a complex art due to its non-homogenous risk characteristics, data limitations, varying account sizes, shared and layered nature of business, convoluted terms and conditions and above all, constantly changing market forces. All insurance companies and syndicates use cat models to analyze certain cat perils. However, rating non-modeled perils and using all the available information to make an underwriting decision is often ad-hoc and subjective. Some established players have developed in-house systems that provide a structure to this process. But for most underwriters, the process is encumbered with multiple spreadsheets, re-key of data and excessive manual work. Pricing Platform’s flagship application U1 provides a ready-made solution to this challenge, increasing efficiency and consistency.

“During my years in the industry, I witnessed first-hand how the underwriters and cat modelers suffered from manual processes and lack of support systems. Many underwriters spend more time formatting data and preparing reports, rather than analyzing risk and making the right decisions. U1 will transform the way exposure data and pricing models are presented to underwriters, so they can concentrate on what they are hired to do – better risk selection and profitability. As a by-product, management gets real-time portfolio rollups, underwriting controls and a huge repository of data for future applications” said Sito Sarkar, founder & president of Pricing Platform.