MSB, a worldwide provider of building cost data and estimating technology to the property insurance industry, introduced a new product, ReAlign, which marks the vendor's expansion into the property reinsurance marketplace. The solution is designed for residential property reinsurers to better understand certain relevant exposures of cedent books of property business.

"The early feedback received from our business partners has been extremely positive," says Steven Brewer, vice president of strategic initiatives at MSB. "Unlike the issues in the sub-prime mortgage industry where sub-prime loans are bundled into bonds that mask the true risk of the investment, today reinsurers have a way to assess quickly such things as coverage adequacy of ceded books of property business. Reinsurers that predict the relevant exposures will better understand the extent to which they may be required to pay out in CAT events."

An important benefit of ReAlign is it solves unpredictability by analyzing the ceding companies' portfolios for coverage adequacy against MSB's industry database. Property matching algorithms in ReAlign ensure accurate, like-to-like comparisons based upon recorded property characteristics. Based on the speed and capabilities of the clients' own systems, large portfolios can be analyzed in as few as five minutes. The ReAlign tool integrates within reinsurers' internal workflows and networks, ensuring security and confidentiality. The ReAlign benchmark data is updated semiannually.