Protecting religious and cultural heritage with an innovative public-sector solution

Italy is one of the most seismically active countries in Europe, and it has been increasingly affected by extreme weather events in recent years.

The Conferenza Episcopale Italiana (CEI) manages thousands of churches and religious buildings, which are highly vulnerable due to their age, construction type and geographic spread in high hazard risk zones.

Traditional insurance often struggles to provide adequate, flexible protection for such dispersed assets, whose monetary value is hard to estimate.

Swiss Re contributed to the development of the parametric earthquake structure, ensuring it met the technical requirements of CEI’s unique portfolio.

The coverage is triggered by predefined seismic parameters (earthquake‘s magnitude, location and depth within a pre-defined grid structure) or a flood index, enabling swift payouts and full transparency.

Swiss Re collaborated closely with Generali, the local insurer underwriting the policy, and the broker Howden to provide the earthquake capacity enabling the successful execution of this transaction.