See How Version 17 Will Create Opportunities for Your Business

Many of the new developments included in Version 17, such as those in the updated RMS® North America Earthquake Model and RMS® North Atlantic Hurricane Model, help open new opportunities for risk differentiation and challenge conventional risk selection strategies.

Through the application of the latest RMS science, data, and modeling methodologies, clients can get closer than ever before to assess hurricane risk for both wind- and water-based perils. For earthquake, fine nuances can be explored to establish whether properties within an "at-risk" zone from shake or liquefaction will experience damage.

Watch our short videos for the North America Earthquake and North Atlantic Hurricane Models, and discover how they can now help you further differentiate your view of risk, including:

  • How liquefaction damage can concentrate within small hotspots
  • Exploring levels of shake decay radiating from epicenter to insured site
  • Unique medium-term views of hurricane risk

It’s Time to Plan Your Exceedance Experience

There are just a few weeks to go until RMS welcomes attendees from around the world to Exceedance 2017 (March 20-23) in New Orleans.

Exceedance offers a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in the latest RMS releases, including Risk Modeler on the RMS(one)® platform and Version 17, ahead of their April launch. In total, there are 105 informative sessions across 22 tracks featuring best practices and technology applications, workshops, use cases, and RMS(one) training and deployment options:

  • For Risk Modeler powered by RMS(one), Exceedance will give you a deep understanding of the modeling and analytics that provide the core of the Risk Modeler workflow. You will understand how to set up analyses, create structures and positions, and access models from multiple RiskLink® versions for key use cases such as change management, modeling reinsurance programs, and analyzing insurance portfolios.
  • The sessions will highlight more than 20 upcoming models, including Version 17 North America Earthquake and North Atlantic Hurricane. With Version 17 North America Earthquake, discover the latest view of risk across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. See the full scope of the update by delving into the model components, our unique implementation of the latest source models from the USGS, directional loss changes by region and line of business, and detailed loss change exhibits.

This year's Lab, packed with our latest modeling and software releases, is where you will learn new ways to create growth and strengthen operational effectiveness and agility. You can meet more than 50 RMS scientists and modelers in four unique Lab zones and "snack-size" sessions in the Mini Theater.

Exceedance in NOLA is going to be special...it's not just the great gumbo, the historic (and haunted) French Quarter, or the spirit of Mardi Gras on every street corner. Exceedance gives you an opportunity to see how the New Orleans spirit of resilience is helping the city continue to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. This year's keynote speaker is Tanya Harris, community outreach coordinator at the Make It Right Foundation, which is building 150 safe, sustainable homes in New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward, the neighborhood most devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

If you are going to join us at Exceedance, with so much going on over the three main conference days, it is time to start planning. Download the Exceedance app and custom build your perfect schedule. If you haven't booked your ticket yet, there's still time for you and your colleagues to join us, but hurry!


Agility and Efficiency Gains Help Your Business Win the Race

Elite sports now place great focus on the "aggregation of marginal gains," applying marginal gains theory by pursuing 1 percent margin improvements to deliver superior performance. For many athletes, breaking down processes into their constituent parts and looking for marginal gains, whether through nutrition, equipment, or mental attitude, allows small improvements to add up, resulting in success.

The insurance market is becoming equally competitive, and margins are under pressure, so how can (re)insurers increase competitiveness and pursue their winning strategy? RMS has a team to help.

The new RMS Solutions Team has been created so you can deliver effectively on your specific business model: identifying and achieving operational efficiency gains through improved processes and best use of technology. The team is structured to help across all stages:

  • Core Practice Groups: Using deep knowledge of your business, RMS solutions can be deployed to improve workflows for operational efficiency and greater business agility.
  • CTO Integration Team: By understanding a client's systems architecture, the team develops and implements integration plans for RMS solutions.
  • Cloud and Managed Solutions Team: Helps clients achieve greater operational efficiency through the effective use of cloud-based or on-site infrastructure, along with unique RMS Analytical Services offerings.

The RMS Solutions Team is already chalking up its first successes in the pursuit of assisting clients to meet their goals. If you would like the team to show you more, please contact your account manager.


Calculating the Risks of Man-Made Earthquakes

The 2,190 residents of Pawnee, Oklahoma, some 70 miles northwest of the state capital, now find that their town is in the state's record books. An Mw5.8 earthquake on September 3, 2016, close to Pawnee, was the strongest earthquake in Oklahoma's recorded history.

The frequency and strength of earthquakes in the state has also increased; events are 40 times more frequent in just eight years. Before 2008, Oklahoma saw an annual average of 21 events at Mw 3.0 or higher; in 2015 it was more than 800. What's driving the increasing frequency and strength of earthquakes in this and other regions where the oil and gas industry is prevalent?

From Europe's largest gas field to the oil fields of Oklahoma, two recent RMS blogs written by Robert Muir-Wood, chief research officer for RMS, have highlighted the risk of induced seismicity, where human activity, such as gas extraction or the disposal of waste water from oil extraction, has caused seismic activity.

Induced seismicity is a growing issue for energy companies worldwide, and it presents a challenge for insurers. Is a specific earthquake a natural or man-made occurrence? Would any losses be picked up by property insurers writing earthquake extensions to standard coverages, as well as potentially by insurers covering the liabilities of deep-disposal operators? The potential liabilities from induced seismicity are a concern for any carrier writing U.S. earthquake impacts for homeowners and businesses.

The soon-to-be-released updated RMS® North America Earthquake Model includes a tool for calculating property risk from induced seismicity in affected states, not just in Oklahoma but also in Kansas, Ohio, Arkansas, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Alabama. The scientific understanding of induced seismicity and its consequences are rapidly evolving, and RMS scientists are closely following these developments. If you would like to find out more about managing induced seismicity risk, contact your account manager.


Rebuilding Nepal: What Progress Is Being Made?

On the RMS blog, Alistair Norris, senior consultant in client solutions for RMS, shares his insight into the re-construction efforts after the Nepal earthquake that struck the country in April 2015. Some 20 months on, and with US$4 billion in funds pledged by international donors, Alistair looks for signs of new investment and highlights the work of RMS partner Build Change in retrofitting and rebuilding damaged buildings.


How Are Clients Using RMS Exposure Manager?

Read our recent press release welcoming Mitsui Sumitomo Marine Management as they adopt RMS Exposure Manager, the first solution on the RMS(one)® platform, to strengthen their risk accumulation management.

Along with a growing list of insurers, the subsidiary of the Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company is using Exposure Manager to minimize blind spots in their risk portfolios. The cloud-based solution enables firms to manage their exposure concentrations more intuitively by providing a clearer, actionable view of real-time risk accumulations.

Michael Daly, senior vice president and chief underwriting officer at Mitsui Sumitomo Marine Management USA, said, "RMS Exposure Manager gives us the analytics we need, when we need them, all based on the latest view of risk."

Daly goes on to say, "We've been really impressed by the speed and simplicity of calculating key metrics such as exposed limit, allowing us to quickly derive insights into our exposures. The clearer view of our accumulations across our diverse risk portfolio makes it so much easier for our exposure management and underwriting teams to quickly make vital portfolio decisions on growth opportunities and risk hotspots, before information becomes outdated."

Find out more about Exposure Manager including demonstration videos, and see how you can turn exposure data into risk insights at rms.com.


Meet RMS Thought Leaders at Global Industry Events

RMS thought leaders from across the business will be participating in industry events in the U.S. and Europe over the coming weeks, including:

Chris Folkman, terrorism expert and senior director of product management at RMS, will discuss challenges and opportunities in terrorism modeling.

RMS Chief Research Officer Dr. Robert Muir-Wood will be joining a panel of industry experts to discuss the theme, "Next Generation Risk Models: Approaches, Challenges, and Opportunities."

For a full list of upcoming RMS events, tradeshows, conferences, and speaking engagements, visit the Events page at rms.com.