Juniper Re Enhances Risk Strategy with KatRisk Catastrophe Modeling Licensing

KatRisk, a global provider of catastrophe risk intelligence and technology, today announced that Juniper Re has licensed its Severe Convective Storm (hail, tornado, and straight line wind) and Wildfire catastrophe models, expanding the reinsurance broker’s ability to assess and manage risk across two perils that continue to present significant modeling challenges for the insurance market.

The agreement builds on Juniper Re’s existing use of KatRisk’s flood modeling capabilities and expands the relationship into severe convective storm and wildfire. By incorporating additional, independent views of risk, Juniper Re can evaluate exposure using models built around the physical drivers of each peril while retaining the flexibility to develop its own perspectives on vulnerability and loss.

“We are pleased to license KatRisk’s severe convective storm and wildfire models to provide the market with an additional, well-founded perspective on risk assessment,” said Adam Miron, Head of Catastrophe Analytics, Juniper Re. “Building on their market-leading flood model, KatRisk brings a differentiated approach to perils that have historically been challenging to model and have often faced criticism regarding validation against experience and the treatment of extreme tail-risk scenarios.

“The flexibility of the KatRisk vulnerability framework enables modelers to develop and implement customized views of risk in a robust and transparent manner, avoiding the need for approximate methodologies. As the industry continues to evolve, there is a growing need for innovative and rigorously validated modeling approaches, and Juniper Re is committed to being at the forefront of that advancement.”

Severe convective storm and wildfire risk are changing quickly. Shifts in exposure, increasing concentrations of insured value and the complex physical behavior of both perils make it increasingly important for (re)insurers to understand not only expected losses, but the potential for severe and less frequent events.

KatRisk’s probabilistic models are designed to connect hazard science, vulnerability and financial loss within a transparent modeling framework. This gives organizations the ability to interrogate model assumptions, develop customized views of vulnerability and understand how those choices translate into portfolio-level risk.

“Juniper Re understands the value of having multiple, scientifically grounded perspectives on risk, particularly for perils where the market’s understanding continues to evolve,” said Martyn Sutton, General Manager, KatRisk. “Our relationship began with flood, and we’re excited to see Juniper Re expand its use of KatRisk into severe convective storm and wildfire. It reflects exactly what we want our models to enable: more choice, greater transparency and the ability for sophisticated modeling teams to build views of risk that reflect their own experience and expertise.”

The KatRisk Severe Convective Storm Model provides a probabilistic view of hail, tornado and straight-line wind risk, supporting analysis of both individual locations and portfolios. The KatRisk Wildfire Model combines KatRisk’s catastrophe modeling framework with wildfire science developed alongside Technosylva, modeling the physical processes that determine how fires ignite and spread and how they ultimately translate into insured loss. The model extends beyond direct fire damage to capture smoke impacts and urban conflagration, providing a broader view of how wildfire events can generate loss as they move into densely developed areas. The model has also been validated against the 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires, using observed data from two of the most consequential recent urban wildfire events to test its representation of fire behavior and resulting impacts.

Together with KatRisk’s established flood capabilities, the models give Juniper Re additional tools to evaluate catastrophe risk across multiple perils within a consistent modeling framework.