Tower Insurance has taken home the Canstar Innovation Excellence Award for the second time, with the financial ratings firm pointing to the insurer’s property-level natural hazard risk rating tool as the basis for the recognition. The announcement came on May 14, 2026.
The system evaluates four natural hazard categories at the address level: earthquake, flood, landslide, and sea surge. Each property receives a separate rating for each hazard, on a scale from very low to very high. New Zealanders can look up ratings for any residential address through Tower’s online quote process at no charge, whether or not they are Tower policyholders. Customers with existing policies can retrieve the same information through the My Tower portal. Different specialist firms supply the underlying models for each hazard. Moody’s handles earthquake and flood modelling. Swiss Re provides the landslide component, while Haskoning supplies sea surge modelling.
The flood model was built in collaboration with Risk Management Solutions (RMS) and draws on data from several domestic institutions, including the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), local and regional councils, and the Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ). Beyond geographic location, the model factors in property-specific characteristics – construction materials, building height, and number of floors – alongside community infrastructure such as flood walls and other protective structures.
The hazard ratings connect directly to how Tower calculates the natural hazard portion of a customer’s home insurance premium. Rather than distributing risk costs across a wider geographic area, each premium reflects the profile of the specific property being insured – an approach known in the industry as risk-based pricing. Tower chief executive Paul Johnston (pictured) outlined the company’s position on the model: “We believe risk-based pricing is a fairer way to structure insurance to ensure that customers don’t pay for risks they don’t have.”
Tower reports that following updates to the risk rating system, more than 90% of its home insurance customers have seen a reduction in the natural hazard component of their premium. Johnston also pointed to shifting conditions in the New Zealand market as a driver of demand for this type of tool. “As adverse weather events become more common, we know New Zealanders want more information about their property’s insurance profile – what risks they face, what cover they might need, and how much that will cost. We’re focused on using digital innovation to make insurance simpler. By working to reduce cross-subsidisation, increase customer understanding, and share insights with government, we’re also helping to support national resilience and broader risk reduction efforts,” Johnston said.
Canstar’s Innovation Excellence Awards assess financial products introduced to the New Zealand market each year. Canstar NZ editor Bruce Pitchers commented on Tower’s recognition: “By harnessing the latest technology to the benefit of Kiwi home insurance customers, Tower is a very worthy recipient of Canstar’s latest Innovation Award.”
Other insurers and government bodies in New Zealand maintain their own resources related to natural hazard risk. IAG New Zealand – which operates brands including AMI, State, NZI, and Lumley – publishes a Wild Weather Tracker documenting regional storm and weather-related claim trends across the country. Vero, operating in New Zealand under Suncorp, hosts a Risk Profiler on its website aimed at commercial customers managing industry-specific operational exposures. AA Insurance and MAS both direct customers toward the Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake (NHC) portal when questions arise about property-level hazard data. FMG, which concentrates on the rural segment, references an internal underwriting model in its climate disclosures.
On the government side, NHC operates the Natural Hazards Portal in partnership with most private insurers. The portal’s claims map covers settled natural hazard insurance claims on residential properties from 1997 onward and connects users to local authority hazard maps. NHC also makes available a Buying a Home Checklist, which steps prospective buyers through property characteristics with natural hazard relevance – covering items such as chimney construction, foundation type, retaining wall condition, and floor height relative to projected flood levels.
