RMS Expands Terrorism Modeling Program

RMS Expands Terrorism Modeling Program

NU Online News Service, Sept. 24, 9:10 a.m. EDT?Newark, Calif.-based catastrophe modeling provider Risk Management Solutions said it has launched a new suite of tools designed to help insurers and reinsurers manage terrorism risk outside the U.S.[@@]

The tools include a Global Terrorism Risk Model, as well as a multi-country expansion of the RMS Terrorism Scenario Model and accumulation management functionality in the company's RiskLink catastrophe management software, the firm said.

"Over the past two years, we have seen increased adoption of terrorism risk management tools for the U.S. within the insurance industry. Now our clients are looking for analytical tools to more knowledgeably underwrite and manage terrorism risk beyond U.S. borders," said Hemant Shah, RMS president and chief executive officer.

Mr. Shah added, "Our new set of tools for global terrorism risk management addresses this need, equipping insurers and reinsurers to assess the risk in essentially any country in the world."

The RMS Global Terrorism Risk Model allows companies to quantify property, business interruption and casualty risk associated with terrorism for locations in 227 countries.

The model takes into account an assessment of local threat groups, the "attractiveness" of a location to terrorists, likely attack modes, and historical terrorism loss in the region.

Designed with global underwriters in mind, the tool requires only basic information about the property such as location, type and size of structure, ownership, and number of occupants. The model can be updated by the user to account for perceived changes in the terrorism landscape for a given country.

Other components of the expanded suite of RMS terrorism risk management products are:

? Exposure accumulation functionality is being expanded to all of the more than 40 countries that are currently supported by RiskLink, the company's catastrophe modeling software.

? The RMS Terrorism Scenario Model in RiskLink also has been expanded to cover 14 countries. The model allows users to estimate multi-line losses at any user-defined location under 30 different attack scenarios, ranging from conventional bombs to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks.