New version of AIR Worldwide Cat modelling platform to help companies develop their own view of risk

AIR Worldwide Monday issued a new version of its scalable catastrophe modelling software platform, Touchstone, which the provider of risk modelling software and consulting reports will give companies additional tools to test, compare and modify model output to develop their own view of risk.

Version 3.0 of Touchstone – a risk management solution designed to perform advanced analytics to help companies better own their risk – “offers comparative loss analytics that allow companies to evaluate multiple sets of loss results simultaneously, including results between model versions, between different exposure sets, or using different policy terms,” notes a statement from AIR Worldwide, a Verisk Analytics business. Previously, these comparisons had to be performed outside of the software, the company reports.

The new version also issues “a new ring accumulation method as part of its Geospatial Analytics Module,” the statement points out. This approach uses an algorithm that identifies “maximum exposure concentration rings using a technique that can deliver more accurate accumulations than traditional methods. Traditional methods are often limited to finding rings with the constraint that one of the risks is at the center of the ring,” AIR Worldwide reports.

Version 3.0 further provides expanded loss modification capabilities, access to detailed hazard data for simulated events to help users gain insight into the drivers of loss and to further facilitate model validation as required by regulatory regimes, and supports the ability to integrate non-AIR models, thereby providing alternative views of risk, the statement adds.

“With this release, AIR continues to execute on its technology road map by introducing important new functionality,” Bill Churney, chief operating officer for AIR Worldwide, notes in the statement. “Next-generation catastrophe modelling is a reality; companies are seizing the opportunity now, not waiting, to perform more advanced analytics to better own their risk,” Churney reports.

“In addition to offering new features on comparative analytics and the ability to access and analyze stochastic hazard information, AIR continues to provide choice in deployment by giving companies the ability to burst to the cloud within Touchstone 3.0 during times of peak activity, opt for full deployment in the cloud, or host on premises,” he adds.

In addition, the new and updated models included in the Version 3.0 release of Touchstone and/or Version 17.0 of CATRADER include the following:

• updates to the United States hurricane model, such as a new hydrodynamic storm surge module;

• comprehensive updates to the hazard and engineering components of the Canada severe thunderstorm model;

• new tropical cyclone and winter storm models for Canada;

• an expanded global pandemic model that includes coronaviruses and filoviruses;

• an expanded European inland flood model to include Austria, the Czech Republic and Switzerland;

• a significant update to the South America earthquake models that include the ability to assess tsunami risk and that adds Ecuador to the model domain; and

• new flood hazard maps for Brazil (an update to AIR Worldwide’s Japan typhoon model to include storm surge is expected later this year).