RMS lifts number of risk models available on RMS(one) to nearly 300

Catastrophe risk modelling firm RMS has announced partnerships with companies whose risk models will be available through its RMS(one) platform, taking the number of fully probabilistic models that will be available on the platform to nearly 300.

RMS has announced partnerships with the following five risk modelling companies, Catalytics, CatRisk® Solutions, COMBUS, OYO Group and QuakeRisk. The addition of these new partners to the RMS(one) platform takes the number of models available to users of the platform close to 300.

RMS claims that this is the largest number of risk models available through a single platform, giving its users the most extensive catastrophe modelling coverage available in the market today. Gaining access to this extensive list of models enables companies to build a more complete and robust view of risk while at the same time benefiting from substantial operational efficiencies in areas including underwriting and portfolio management, said RMS in its announcement today.

The addition of these five new partners to RMS(one) takes the total to nine. Already partnering with the RMS(one) platform are from U.S. hurricane modelling firm Applied Research Associates, Inc., flood modelling specialists JBA Risk Management, Latin American specialist ERN and Australia and Asia-Pacific specialist Risk Frontiers.

The nine partnerships will bring a total of 104 probabilistic catastrophe models to the RMS(one) platform, which alongside the RMS  global suite of risk models brings the total number of fully probabilistic models that will be available on the RMS(one) platform to nearly 300

The first partnership risk models from ERN and Risk Frontiers are already integrated with the platform and available on RMS(one) today.

Mario Ordaz, president of risk modelling firm ERN, said; “RMS(one) is the only platform I know of that has clearly been architected to be both open as well as flexible enough to accommodate the unique aspects of any catastrophe model. We have successfully implemented our Mexico earthquake model, which uses unique modeling approaches to simulate complex ground-motion behavior in the Mexico City area. The implementation process was very easy and we were able to maintain the full integrity of the model while at the same time taking advantage of the RMS financial model and high performance computing infrastructure.”

“Our Australia cyclone model is now running on RMS(one) and we expect to have the remainder of our Australia model suite completed soon,” commented Risk Frontiers’ Managing Director John McAneney. “The implementation of our models on RMS(one) was very straightforward. RMS has invested in specialized developer tools such as its Model Development Kit (MDK), which greatly facilitate the model implementation process for partners.”

“RMS has pioneered and is building an enduring ecosystem of risk-management capabilities. With the successful implementation of the first partner models, our clients can now, for the first time in the history of this industry, run models from multiple providers on the same platform,” added Paul VanderMarck, RMS chief products officer. “We are pleased to welcome our newest partners who will extend even further the range of catastrophe models available to our clients, while at the same time providing them with opportunities to grow their specialist-modeling businesses in ways that weren’t possible before.”

The risk modelling world is evolving alongside the reinsurance market with advancements in data and modelling ultimately set to lead to better pricing and risk analytics, vital for a reinsurance market which is striving to become ever more efficient and lower-cost.

Both RMS and AIR are integrating third-party risk models into their next-generation risk modelling platforms, giving their users more choice and the ability to compare views on risk much more easily. They also give their users the ability to develop on top of these platforms, allowing in-house views of risk to be more readily generated.

Technology is likely to be a key factor in driving the reinsurance and insurance-linked securities industries growth in the coming years. Risk models and technology are going to increasingly play an important role in helping the market to grow into new regions and catastrophe perils around the globe as well as in how to apply capital to risks, matching the right capital with the right exposure to match the risk appetite.

RMS can now claim the first fully integrated third-party models which are available to users of its system, with today’s announcement of the inclusion of ERN and Risk Frontiers models in the platform. RMS does not aim to stop there. The goal is to bring an ever wider range of models and analytics into RMS(one), including moving outside of the catastrophe sphere, as it seeks to develop a system which can support insurers and reinsurers needs into the future as well as today.

“Initially, our ecosystem partners are heavily focused on catastrophe models,” said Hemant Shah, co-founder and CEO of RMS. “We are committed to working with our partners to develop a wider range of models for the growing classes of exposures.”