AIR launches next-gen reinsurance & ILS modelling tool Touchstone Re

AIR Worldwide has announced the launch of its awaited next-generation catastrophe risk modelling software solution, Touchstone Re which is designed for estimating the loss potential of reinsurance contracts and portfolios, industry loss warranties, and insurance-linked securities.

Touchstone Re, which will become the reinsurance focused component of the Touchstone modelling suite, will replace the well-known and used CATRADER software from AIR Worldwide, and the new modelling tool will allow insurance, reinsurance and ILS funds to model and price complex reinsurance structures and analyse their exposures to catastrophe risks.

Firms will be able to gain a better understanding of where their exposures are concentrated around the world, roll up their portfolios and also view their overall risk aggregation.

AIR’s Industry Exposure Database is integrated and allows users to benchmark their portfolio risk relative to the industry, and estimate their potential losses when detailed exposure data is not available.

“Touchstone Re not only incorporates the key functionality from CATRADER, it also includes a host of new features across core reinsurance pricing and portfolio management workflows while being a more scalable application with a fresh user interface and streamlined navigation,” explained Sudhir Potharaju, senior vice president, product, at AIR Worldwide. “Touchstone Re is not just a new user interface on an established application. By saving multiple loss perspectives simultaneously and running portfolio analyses up to 75 percent faster, Touchstone Re can save users significant time, leaving them free to interpret their results and make more informed risk management decisions.”

Companies already licensing AIR’s Touchstone will be able transfer loss results into Touchstone Re with just a few clicks, making it simpler to analyse losses by line of business down to subarea resolution, without the need for unwieldy data export and import procedures.

“With over 20 years of experience with CATRADER and its predecessor products, we’re excited to see the next generation features available now in Touchstone Re,” commented Nick Datt, vice president, enterprise risk management, Odyssey Reinsurance Company. “One feature that stood out to us is the ability to visualize complex reinsurance structures on-screen and easily modify them using the drag-and-drop tool. Our global teams are excited about this new functionality as well as the speed enhancements and look forward to incorporating Touchstone Re into a much more streamlined workflow for both treaty pricing and corporate rollup.”

“Having experienced Touchstone Re as an early adopter, I’m truly looking forward to the release of the application,” Martin Hamrin, senior vice president, group underwriting analytics, Sirius International said. “As a client that licenses both Touchstone and now Touchstone Re, the ability to transfer data seamlessly between the platforms is a welcome addition and will save our catastrophe modelers significant time.”

AIR Worldwide has also updated its Touchstone catastrophe risk modeling platform, the firm said, with new analytics, the ability to customise the software, and better user workflows.

AIR said this provides for zone-based analytics for more detailed loss modeling, improved management of Touchstone projects, and easier data transfer between companies, as well as an extensive user interface update, and clients will now have the ability to build and use custom models.