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Dr Justin Butler: Really pleased with the turn out today. We seem to have over 150 people so it’s going to be just about a full house.

Aiden Kerr: The key objective for me for this event, for FloodRe, is to make sure that the momentum that we’ve got in making FloodRe a reality is continued. FloodRe will be ready for launch in April 4^th but we’ll only be successful if the insurance industry is also ready for launch on April the 4^th. So we’re going to make sure that whatever way the insurers sell their products to customers, be it directly or through a broker, we want to make sure that they’re ready for FloodRe and customers at risk of flooding can benefit from FloodRe.

Chris Chambers: So today we’re really hoping to demonstrate the benefits of address level geocoding and address level risk analysis so insurers can more accurately determine the decision to cede or not to cede the property rather than leave it at postcode level which we find some insurance companies are doing.

Dr Justin Butler: We couldn’t have picked a more opportune time to host an event in UK flood risk given the extreme events that have been happening North West of England over the weekend. So I think that really brings the issue up to the top of the agenda given that losses from this event are likely to be severe and also with the scheme coming into force on the 1^st of April some of the distribution of losses and the nature of the event overtopping flood defences and being of an extreme nature will probably impact on an insurers ceding strategy.

Michael Wade: I think the most important issue to focus on is awareness for individual property owners. Their awareness of where they live, what their flood risk is, the type of risk, and what they might choose to do to mitigate flood risk to their particular property. The relatively small amount of water can cause a lot of damage and can be prevented in many instances.

Chris Chambers: I think the main issues we’re identifying is that the insurance companies are finding it very difficult to decide which properties to cede or not to seed so it’s quite a difficult decision to make. Having that detailed information at address level we find gives them a real advantage over other people to make sure they cede the right properties or not.

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