Abstract

CRESTA: Geographic Zoning Standard for the Re-/insurance Industry
Track: Benefit of GIS
Author(s): Christina Schlenther

CRESTA (Catastrophe Risk Evaluating and Standardizing Target Accumulations) is an independent organisation with the goal to foster a uniform and global approach to process and transfer accumulation risk control data for natural hazards.

The basis of this data exchange are the so-called CRESTAzones which are currently available for 76 countries. They provide the spatial basis for the standardized exchange of insurance related information. In countries where no geocoding is available these zones play a major role in geographic accumulation risk control.

The zones are defined by the CRESTA community (insurance market, brokers, re-/insurers) and generated afterwards by the CRESTA Secretariat (currently located at Swiss Re) using ArcGIS.

The availability of high resolution spatial data and new GIS tools will allow CRESTA to meet future requirements of the market and permit to focus on more detailed zoning information for additional countries.

Christina Schlenther
Swiss Reinsurance Company
Mythenquai 50/60
Zurich , Zurich 8022
Switzerland
Phone: 0041-(0)43-2855912
Fax: 0041-(0)43-2825912
E-mail: christina_schlenther@swissre.com