AIR Expands Catastrophe Modeling Capabilities for Life, Accident and Health, and Disability Insurers

January 1, 2011 / 2 min read

Boston, Apr. 4, 2005 — AIR Worldwide Corporation (AIR) today announced the international expansion of its catastrophe modeling services for life, accident and health and disability insurers. Since initially introducing the service in 2003 for U.S. earthquake and terrorism risk, AIR has performed analyses for several major U.S. group life insurers. The service is now available for Taiwan and can be applied, upon request, to more than 20 countries in Europe, Asia and North and South America in which AIR models earthquake risk.

"AIR is expanding the geographic scope of its life modeling capabilities in response to increased demand by insurers internationally," said Uday Virkud, senior vice president at AIR Worldwide Corporation. "As December's tragic earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean demonstrated, natural disasters have the potential to cause very large loss of life. Earthquakes are particularly lethal, as witnessed by the 1999 Taiwan earthquake that caused 3,400 deaths, the 1995 Kobe earthquake that caused more than 6,000 deaths and the 1976 earthquake in China that killed more than 250,000 people."

AIR recently completed a catastrophe risk analysis for the Taiwan life portfolio of a major international insurer. AIR's innovative analysis, which covered approximately 20 percent of the population of Taiwan, enables the client to effectively manage exposure concentrations in high-risk areas and to make more informed decisions regarding reinsurance purchasing and risk retention.

A number of leading life insurers have incorporated catastrophe risk analysis into their overall risk management approach. Practices such as determining where insured lives are located with respect to catastrophe risk, exploring worst-case scenarios and reviewing portfolio loss potential probabilistically are enabling life insurers to better understand and manage their catastrophe risk.

About AIR Worldwide Corporation
AIR Worldwide Corporation (AIR) is a leading risk modeling company helping clients manage the financial impact of catastrophes and weather. Utilizing the latest science and technology, AIR models natural catastrophes in more than 40 countries and the risk from terrorism in the United States. Other areas of expertise include site-specific seismic engineering analysis, catastrophe bonds and property replacement cost valuation. A member of the ISO family of companies, AIR was founded in 1987 to provide its insurance, reinsurance, corporate and government clients a complete line of risk modeling software and consulting services that produce consistent and reliable results. Headquartered in Boston, AIR has additional offices in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit www.air-worldwide.com.

About ISO
ISO is a leading provider of products and services that help measure, manage and reduce risk. ISO provides data, analytics and decision-support solutions to professionals in many fields, including insurance, finance, real estate, health services, government and human resources. Professionals use ISO's databases and services to classify and evaluate a variety of risks and detect potential fraud. In the U.S. and around the world, ISO's services help customers protect people, property and financial assets.

Release: Immediate

Contacts:
Giuseppe Barone / Erica Helton
MWW Group (for ISO)
201-507-9500
gbarone@mww.com / ehelton@mww.com

Michael Gannon (AIR)
617-267-6645
mgannon@air-worldwide.com