AIR Worldwide targets protection gap as it updates models
Catastrophe risk modelling firm AIR Worldwide has updated its terrorism and crop models and will be updating a number of its other models in years to come.
“We have a rich pipeline of models over the next few years. We’re working on more model coverage for Australia and a New Zealand earthquake update,” AIR’s managing director of international operations Milan Simic told Monte Carlo Today.
2016 has been busy for AIR: the company has developed its US terrorism and crop models and expanded its models in South East Asia.
Today (September 12), AIR revealed the expansion of its terrorism risk model to support scenario testing for the US and 27 other countries. The model now supports accumulation modelling, deterministic modelling of conventional weapon attacks and probabilistic modelling.
“Modelling this complex and dynamic global threat requires a comprehensive solution,” said Rob Newbold, executive vice president at AIR Worldwide. “A complete terrorism risk analysis must include three components: accumulations analysis, deterministic analysis, and probabilistic loss analysis. Touchstone, our loss modelling platform, offers all three.”
AIR is also looking to help close the protection gap, the difference between economic and insured losses, across the globe. According to the company, $607.2 billion remains uninsured in Asia, with only $52.8 billion of economic losses insured.
“One way to begin to close this gap is to have governments identify areas where there is a gap and where they’d like to create protection for their citizens and infrastructure,” said Simic.
“The expansion of our models in South East Asia goes hand in hand with trying to close the protection gap, because if you’re going to write business in those countries then you need models to start,” he added.
The risk modeller is also active in the pandemic arena. In July, it revealed a collaboration with the World Bank on the launch of the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility, a mechanism designed to protect the world against deadly pandemics.
