Regulatory Zest

Expanding Regulatory & Government Affairs

ZestyAI's Regulatory team has formally expanded into Regulatory & Government Affairs, reflecting a broader and more strategic role.

These are the four key areas:

1. Product Approval & Enablement

‍End-to-end filing strategy support, leveraging ZestyAI's Rate Service Organization (RSO) licenses to streamline approvals and reduce time to market.

2. Regulatory Policy & Standards

Monitoring and interpreting emerging state and NAIC requirements, and translating them into actionable guidance for product development and filings.

3. Government & External Affairs

Building trusted relationships with regulators and policymakers to drive alignment on AI-driven risk models.

4. Technical Leadership & Education‍

Delivering transparent, technically rigorous explanations of ZestyAI models to support regulatory review and build industry understanding.

This expanded scope enables ZestyAI to serve not just as a model provider, but as a strategic partner in navigating an increasingly complex regulatory environment.

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ZestyAI enables end-to-end compliance through a unified platform:

• Mitigation Integration — Z-FIRE incorporates defensible space, structure characteristics, vegetation, wildfire history, and fuel exposure directly into risk scoring.
• Consumer Transparency & Disclosures — Scores, ranges, relative position, key drivers, and mitigation impacts are delivered via API and Z-VIEW for clear, plain-language communication.
• Appeals & Governance — Z-VIEW provides a structured appeals workflow with audit trails, data correction, and regulator-ready documentation aligned with 10/30-day requirements.
• Filing & Model Transparency — Full support for filing documentation, including model methodology, rate impact analysis, and underwriting integration.‍
• Ongoing Policyholder Engagement — Quarterly imagery refresh and scenario planning ensure mitigation actions are continuously reflected in risk assessments.

New research from ZestyAI reveals that 62% of U.S. homeowners are deferring critical home maintenance, adding up to $317 billion in potential claims exposure for insurers.

These findings come as Severe Convective Storms (SCS) caused an estimated $58 billion in insured losses in 2024, surpassing hurricane-related losses and marking the second-costliest SCS year on record.

Tornadoes, hail, and wind events now account for over 60% of all U.S. catastrophe claims, and research from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) shows that roof damage accounts for up to 90% of residential catastrophe losses.

Key Findings from ZestyAI’s Homeowner Survey

According to ZestyAI’s nationally representative survey, 62% of homeowners have delayed essential repairs due to budget constraints, representing nearly 59 million U.S. homes with unaddressed vulnerabilities. Forty percent said they would rely on an insurance claim to cover major repairs like roof replacement, adding up to an estimated $317 billion in potential exposure for carriers.

Alarmingly, 63% of homeowners who weren’t living in their home at the time of the last roof replacement don’t know how old their roof is, making it even harder to detect aging systems before they fail. Meanwhile, 12% admitted they would delay repairs indefinitely, further increasing their risk of property damage.

Severe Convective Storms: The Growing Catastrophe Risk

This blind spot compounds known risks: prior ZestyAI analysis has identified over 12.6 million U.S. properties at high risk for hail-related roof damage, representing $189.5 billion in potential roof replacement costs.

“Deferred maintenance has long been a known risk factor, but today the stakes are higher than ever,” said Kumar Dhuvur, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of ZestyAI. "With claim severity rising and storm losses compounding, insurers need more than hazard maps to navigate this landscape."

"Property-level insights allow carriers to proactively address known vulnerabilities, improve underwriting precision, and work with homeowners to reduce losses before they happen.”

ZestyAI’s findings support a growing push toward data-driven, preventative underwriting strategies, especially as carriers face rising claim severity and pressure to improve combined ratios across storm-prone states.

Filing Strategy: Scaling Adoption of Risk Models

ZestyAI continues to advance a proactive, scalable filing strategy focused on accelerating adoption of all of our models.

Across all programs, ZestyAI’s approach emphasizes:

• Clear documentation of model methodology and validation
• Alignment with state-specific regulatory requirements
• Reusable filing artifacts to improve speed and consistency
• Early and direct engagement with regulators to streamline review

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