Cat modelling firms open platforms as insurers demand flexibility

Pick and mix

Catastrophe modelling is undergoing a transformation. The hazards remain as threatening as ever – witness the recent Oklahoma tornado, Hurricane Sandy in 2012, or the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011. But the industry’s attitude to the risks and the models they use to help manage them is changing fast.

Unlike market risk or non-catastrophe insurance risk modelling, catastrophe risk modelling has traditionally been outsourced by much of the industry. There are good historical reasons for thi