Corporate Risk Managers Have a New Tool to Assess and Manage Catastrophe Risk with the Release of AIR's CATStation

January 1, 2011 / 4 min read

BOSTON, December 1, 2003 — AIR Worldwide Corporation (AIR), a leading risk modeling company,today announced the availability of CATStation to the corporate risk management market. CATStationTM, first released to insurers in July, is a browser-based tool that incorporates three powerful modules to help corporations manage risk from natural and man-made catastrophes.

CATStation gives risk managers access to the same scientifically advanced catastrophe models used by the insurers that write their policies. CATStation enables risk managers to generate estimates of probable maximum loss (PML) and the likelihood of loss. Furthermore, it provides them with the added value of incorporating highly detailed information about their portfolios for a more accurate view of the potential loss. This facilitates better risk management and insurance purchasing decisions.

CATStation is ideally suited for corporations with significant property holdings, such as real estate investment trusts, hotel and retail chains, and manufacturing companies with multiple facilities, among others. CATStation is also well suited for mortgage underwriters that need to understand a property's catastrophe risk before making lending decisions.

"Catastrophe risk insurance is a significant expenditure. We have been searching for an application to help us more accurately quantify our exposure to extreme events so we buy only the insurance we need," said Jon Raleigh, manager of insurance and lease administration at First Industrial Realty Trust Inc., the nation's largest provider of diversified industrial real estate. "CATStation offers us the ability to easily assess our catastrophe insurance needs for individual properties and for our entire portfolio. It also lets us run cost-benefit comparisons of various limit/deductible scenarios and provides us with a tool to perform PML and impact analyses for property acquisitions and sales."

CATStation's modules include loss analysis, hazard analysis and exposure concentration analysis. The loss analysis module enables risk managers to run catastrophe loss analyses for individual properties or a portfolio of properties. Analyses can be run for the natural hazards of earthquake, hurricane and severe thunderstorm. Additionally, loss analyses can be run for terrorism risk in the United States using the same model that provided the basis for the insurance industry's loss costs that were approved by regulators in all 50 states. Potential losses can be determined for individual or multiple perils. CATStation estimates losses across multiple lines of business, including property, workers compensation and life.

For each property location, CATStation's hazard module details relevant geological and geographical information for natural catastrophe risks. For an earthquake, this includes information about soil type, distance to nearest active fault and historical earthquakes. Hazard information for earthquakes, hurricanes, severe thunderstorms and floods can be beneficial when considering new properties to purchase. The exposure concentration module allows risk managers to evaluate geographic concentrations of property and employees.

"AIR has been providing catastrophe loss analyses for insurers and reinsurers for more than 15years. As the use of risk modeling begins to grow among risk managers, a tool like CATStation will provide them with a powerful and cost-efficient way to analyze catastrophe risk," said S. Ming Lee,senior vice president at AIR Worldwide Corporation.

About AIR Worldwide Corporation
AIR Worldwide Corporation 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 35 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. Founded in 1987, AIR offers 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 source of information, products and services related to property and liability risk. For a broad spectrum of commercial and personal lines of insurance, ISO provides data, analytical and decision-support products; consulting; data processing; and technical, statistical and actuarial services. ISO field services include on-site rating and underwriting services and the evaluation of community loss-mitigation efforts. ISO's products help customers with sales and prospecting, underwriting, rating and quoting, customer management, policy administration, product development, claims administration and fraud detection. ISO's AIR Worldwide subsidiary provides technologies to assess and manage natural and man-made extreme-event risk. Through its ISO Claims Services, Inc. (iiX unit) and Intellicorp subsidiaries, ISO provides motor vehicle reports and criminal-records information and through its AscendantOne unit delivers rating, quoting and policy-administration solutions. In the United States and around the world, ISO serves insurers, reinsurers, agents, brokers, self-insureds, risk managers, insurance regulators and other government agencies.

Release: Immediate

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

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