South Carolina Extends Data Call from October Storm

The South Carolina Department of Insurance (SCDOI) has advised insurers to continue to report P&C claims as per the data call issued for the October 2015 flood event and its aftermath.

The data call was originally issued Oct. 13, 2015 by SCDOI requiring all authorized property and casualty insurance companies, including licensed insurers, eligible surplus lines insurers, and companies that write private and/or excess flood insurance coverage in the state. Companies were asked to complete the data call spreadsheet posted on SCDOI’s website and return it by the indicated due dates.

The sixth and last scheduled reporting period included claims data as of Dec. 30, 2015 and was to be submitted to SCDOI by Jan. 4, 2016. Thereafter, SCDOI advised that the data call would continue until 95 percent of claims industry wide were closed for all lines of business subject to this data call.

SCDOI said on Jan. 5 that because the 95 percent closure rate has not yet been met, the data call will continue.

“All companies that are subject to this data call should continue to report catastrophe claims data until further notice,” SCDOI said in its notice.

Future claims data reports will be due on the first Monday of every month for claims reported as of the preceding Wednesday.

The Department will provide notification when the cumulative 95 percent threshold is met and cease collection of additional data accordingly.

SCDOI said individual companies (or insurance groups) with more than 95 percent of its claims closed for this data call – for a given line and/or all impacted lines – are still required to submit reports. These additional reports should continue even if the company (or group) reaches 100 percent of claims closed and should only cease when SCDOI provides notification that the data call is ending, the department said.

“These additional reports are required in order for the Department to accurately aggregate catastrophe claims data,” SCDOI’s statement said.

If a company (or group) has not had any claims for any line of business that is subject to the data call and has previously submitted a report that explicitly notes that no claims relating to the catastrophic event arising from the October 2015 severe storms and flooding are expected (per the data call spreadsheet instructions), then that company (or group) can disregard the notice.

The data call spreadsheet is unchanged from the Oct. 16, 2015 version posted and is still available on the SCDOI’s website.