BOSTON, June 17, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide (AIR) today announced that Sirius International Insurance Group, Ltd. ("Sirius Group"), the Bermuda-based reinsurance unit of White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. (NYSE: WTM ), has significantly expanded its strategic relationship with AIR by licensing its global suite of catastrophe models in Touchstone ® . AIR Worldwide is a Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq: VRSK ) business.
"AIR has proven to be an excellent ally for us with an impressive track record of delivery," said Jan Onselius, chief underwriting officer for the Sirius Group. "This is why we are excited to strengthen our strategic relationship even further. The road map ahead for the AIR suite of solutions, leveraging the already powerful Touchstone platform, is very well aligned with our priorities, and we look forward to harvesting the underwriting benefits of these offerings."
Sirius Group is leveraging Touchstone for detailed loss modeling and using its advanced geospatial analytics module for exposure accumulation management. AIR's detailed hazard information will complement the geospatial module to allow for a deeper understanding of the risk.
"The solutions and deep knowledge that AIR provides, based on its commitment to science, will be instrumental tools to shape our view of risk," said Martin Hamrin, head, global catastrophe model group, at the Sirius Group. "We are excited about broadening our use of AIR's models and the analytics that Touchstone offers. The insight we gain from these and from our dialogue with AIR scientists is unique and invaluable to us."
Since AIR released the first version of Touchstone in January 2013, adoption has been rapid. Recently, AIR released Touchstone Version 3.0, which offers companies additional tools to test, compare, and modify model output to develop their own view of risk.
"We are extremely pleased that our long-standing relationship with Sirius is significantly expanding," said Bill Churney, chief operating officer at AIR Worldwide. "Touchstone is established as the industry's next-generation risk management platform with capabilities far beyond just catastrophe models. We look forward to working closely with Sirius to help them leverage Touchstone's full capabilities across their global organization so they can truly own the risk. Sirius is a sophisticated user of catastrophe models, and their growing use of AIR solutions in their demanding modeling practice is further evidence of the success of the Touchstone platform and the value of AIR's models."
About Sirius International Insurance Group, Ltd.
Sirius International Insurance Group, Ltd., is a wholly owned subsidiary of White Mountains Insurance Group, a publicly traded (NYSE: WTM ), Bermuda-domiciled holding company with worldwide interests in both insurance and reinsurance.
About AIR Worldwide
AIR Worldwide (AIR) is the scientific leader and most respected provider of risk modeling software and consulting services. AIR founded the catastrophe modeling industry in 1987 and today models the risk from natural catastrophes and terrorism in more than 90 countries. More than 400 insurance, reinsurance, financial, corporate, and government clients rely on AIR software and services for catastrophe risk management, insurance-linked securities, detailed site-specific wind and seismic engineering analyses, and agricultural risk management. AIR Worldwide, a Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq: VRSK ) business, is headquartered in Boston with additional offices in North America, Europe, and Asia. For more information, please visit www.air-worldwide.com .
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For more information, contact: Kevin Long AIR Worldwide +1-617-267-6645 klong@air-worldwide.com
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