估值技能危机：为何准确性和弹性面临风险

The Valuations Skills Crisis:Why Accuracy and Resilience Why Certain Valuation Methodologies NowPose a Material Risk to Insurers and Insureds Foreword Insurance valuations have long been a core element of placing property risks, allowing underwritersto assess exposure, risk managers to test scenarios, and claims handlers to honour the promises However, over time, the methods used to produce insurance valuations have changed. A drive forspeed, consistency and efficiency over engineering-led judgement has influenced the approach ofmany valuers, even when assessing industrial and energy assets. The result is a growing disconnect This paper explores how the profession arrived at this point, and why the distinction between whatKroll describes as ‘Basic’ and ‘Expert’ valuation methods has become so important. While the twoapproaches can appear similar on the surface, they produce fundamentally different outcomes when Sitting at the centre of that difference, is the role of engineering-led expertise. Accurate insurancevaluations depend on understanding how assets are designed, constructed, modified and operated,as well as spending sufficient time on site to verify what is actually there. Without that grounding, As assets become more complex and scrutiny of declared values increases, the margin for errornarrows. Getting valuations right is not simply a technical exercise - it plays a fundamental role inensuring the right cover is in place, for the right risks, at the right time. This paper sets out why an ““approaches replacing engineering-ledexpertise. That shift introduces real risk forclients. At Kroll, we believe insurancevaluations must be grounded in technical —Antony Attwell, Managing Director and Insurance Valuation How valuations have changed Insurance valuations are facing a quiet but potentially significant crisis. Over the last two decades, thediscipline has drifted steadily toward commoditisation, with many firms relying on modelling, basicasset register manipulation or simple cost-to-capacity metrics to produce reports. The result is a Against that backdrop, the demands of an engineering-ledvaluation stand out sharply. Such an approach requiresdiscipline, a structured training pathway, technicalunderstanding of how insurance valuations are used, and For The Sake of Speed And Efficiency “What began as a search for speed andefficiency has quietly hollowed out the technical Underinsurance, which has plagued insurance claims formany years, illustrates the scale of the problem perfectly. According to research by insurance broker Gallagher,nearly half of all UK commercial properties are thought tobe undervalued, with shortfalls commonly reaching 40% “They do go on site but not for long enough to get underthe skin of the assets they are valuing. Less experiencedvaluers tend to use this method and may be unaware there The difference between these two approaches onlyreally becomes clear when a claim is madeand those at The challenge is that many clients don’t fully realise howfar the methodology has moved: “Clients aren’t necessarilyaware of the difference,” says Antony. “But without the “In a recent discussion with a senior loss adjuster, I askedhow often he sees claims with no valuation attached. Hesaid he saw it quite often but more alarmingly; he added,that evenwhen valuations are in place, they are often This skill erosion is now one of the biggest structural issuesfacing the sector. Research conducted by theRoyalInstitution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)on hundreds ofRICS surveyors around the world found that: Commercial pressures have had a significant part to play inthis drift, with lower cost methods becoming widely utilisedas technology (and modelling) started to play an increasinglyprominent role in the profession. And as technology gave feel the skills gap ishaving an impact onthe profession 27% However, this shift towards efficiency and the slidetowards commoditisation hasn’t been intentional: “Thiswasn’t done deliberately but valuers, under significantpricing pressure and often with limited exposure to 59% of skills across the sector Whatever the intentions behind the use of modelling, thecumulative effect is clear, engineering-led valuation expertisehas been increasingly sidelined, and the gap between Less accurate, less granular and less bespoke The shift was reinforced by the data feeding the models. Assetregisters became the default data source, and while they arerich in detail, the data they hold is often outdated with limitedrelevance to true reinstatement costs. In 2025 Kroll’s FAIR This paper explores how the profession reached this point,the differences between what Kroll now refer to as ‘Basic’and ‘Expert’ valuation methods, and why an engineering-led approach (Expert) is essential for delivering accurate “Relying on asset registers turns historical accounting Modelling is a risky shortcut “Relying on asset registers has always been a far lessaccurate ap