(Artist’s rendition of the Sirius star system. Image credit: NASA and G. Bacon.)
Sirius International Insurance Group, a Bermuda-based reinsurance unit of White Mountains Insurance Group, has significantly expanded its strategic relationship with AIR Worldwide (Boston; a Verisk Analytics company) by licensing the vendor’s global suite of catastrophe models within its Touchstone platform, according to a vendor statement.
Bill Churney, COO, AIR Worldwide.
“AIR has proven to be an excellent ally for us with an impressive track record of delivery,” comments Jan Onselius, chief underwriting officer for the Sirius Group. “This is why we are excited to strengthen our strategic relationship even further. The road map ahead for the AIR suite of solutions, leveraging the already powerful Touchstone platform, is very well aligned with our priorities, and we look forward to harvesting the underwriting benefits of these offerings.”
Sirius Group is using Touchstone for detailed loss modeling and using the platform’s advanced geospatial analytics module for exposure accumulation management, according to AIR. AIR’s detailed hazard information will complement the geospatial module to allow for a deeper understanding of the risk, the vendor reports.
(Related: Growth Rather than Disasters Driving Catastrophe Loss Increase—AIR Analysis)
“The solutions and deep knowledge that AIR provides, based on its commitment to science, will be instrumental tools to shape our view of risk,” says Martin Hamrin, head, global catastrophe model group, Sirius Group. “We are excited about broadening our use of AIR’s models and the analytics that Touchstone offers. The insight we gain from these and from our dialogue with AIR scientists is unique and invaluable to us.”
Sophisticated User of Catastrophe Models
AIR reports rapid adoption of Touchstone, since it debuted in Jan. 2013. The company recently released Version 3.0, which it says offers clients additional tools to test, compare and modify model output to develop their own view of risk.
“We are extremely pleased that our long-standing relationship with Sirius is significantly expanding,” comments Bill Churney, COO, AIR Worldwide. “Touchstone is established as the industry’s next-generation risk management platform with capabilities far beyond just catastrophe models. We look forward to working closely with Sirius to help them leverage Touchstone’s full capabilities across their global organization so they can truly own the risk. Sirius is a sophisticated user of catastrophe models, and their growing use of AIR solutions in their demanding modeling practice is further evidence of the success of the Touchstone platform and the value of AIR’s models.”