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PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ACE Private Risk Services, the high-net-worth personal lines business of the ACE Group, has been recognized by Best’s Review Magazine’s 2013 Innovators Showcase for its Home Contents Valuation Service. By introducing this new service in August 2011, ACE became the first and remains the only high-net-worth insurance carrier to offer a select group of its clients systematic, tailored estimates for determining their personal property coverage at policy inception.

ACE Private Risk Services developed the Home Contents Valuation Service after a pilot study of 400 high value homes found that standard industry methods for determining the level of contents coverage left many significantly underinsured. If unaddressed, this underinsurance problem could cause dissatisfaction and delay at the time of a claim, diminished insurance-to-value, and ultimately rate instability.

As a better solution, ACE armed its risk consultants, who were already visiting high value homes to estimate structural replacement value, with a proprietary tablet computer application to capture information about the contents of the home. ACE developed this application in collaboration with Asset Archives, Inc., recently acquired by Trov, Inc., leaders in the field of tangible wealth management. The risk consultants compare this data with Trov’s database of more than 200,000 items often found in high value homes to generate an estimate of contents value.

Since deploying the service, ACE Private Risk Services has found that more than half of homes valued between $2 million and $7.5 million have insufficient coverage for contents, and the coverage deficiency averaged $548,000 per home.

“We’re honored to be recognized by Best’s Review for our innovation, and we’re especially pleased to help our clients and agents make better, more informed decisions about the amount of coverage they need,” said Gary Raphael, Senior Vice President, Risk Consulting, ACE Private Risk Services. “The response from agents and clients has been very positive. One client with a $2 million condominium wound up increasing his personal property coverage by $1.3 million, showing how extreme the problem of underinsurance for contents can be relative to home value. Our closer review of their personal property also encourages many clients to ultimately schedule their most prized possessions on a valuables policy.”

Best’s Review Innovators Showcase profiles novel business concepts among insurance and reinsurance companies, insurance agencies and brokerages, wholesalers, claims managers, third-party administrators and alternative market facilities. A panel of insurance industry experts selected the most innovative programs to showcase. To read about the ACE Private Risk Services innovation, please click here.

About ACE Private Risk Services

ACE Private Risk Services is the ACE Group’s high-net-worth personal insurance business, which provides specialty coverage for homeowners, automobile, recreational marine, umbrella liability and valuables collections insurance for individuals and families with emerging and established wealth. Policies are issued by Bankers Standard Insurance Co. and ACE Insurance Co. of the Midwest. Additional information can be found at:www.aceprs.com. The ACE Group is one of the world’s largest multiline property and casualty insurers. With operations in 53 countries, ACE provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident supplemental health insurance, reinsurance, and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. ACE Limited, the parent company of the ACE Group, is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ACE) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Additional information can be found at: www.acegroup.com.

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