RMS Partners with China Earthquake Administration’s Institute of Engineering Mechanics to Develop China Earthquake Risk Model

Newark, Calif. – May 16, 2006 – Risk Management Solutions (RMS), the world's leading provider of products and services for the management of catastrophe risk, today announced a partnership with the China Earthquake Administration scientific and engineering arm, the Institute of Engineering Mechanics (IEM).

“We are very pleased to work alongside a scientific institute of IEM’s caliber,” stated Paul VanderMarck, executive vice president of products at RMS. “This partnership will span a broad host of initiatives designed to promote greater awareness and understanding of natural hazard risk and exposure throughout China.”

The first product from the collaboration will be a fully probabilistic earthquake model covering the whole of China, for which RMS and IEM have already completed several months of development work. The model will utilize state-of-the-art modeling methodologies coupled with high-quality hazard, inventory and vulnerability data. Recognizing the growing importance of this region for catastrophe risk management, RMS will be releasing the model in early 2007.

RMS’ close relationship with IEM further strengthens long-standing ties with the Chinese seismic and insurance community, including recent participation in the 2004 International Conference on Continental Earthquakes in Beijing, and the subsequent publication of the 2005 RMS white paper “Creating a Technical Foundation for Earthquake Insurance in China.” The new China earthquake model builds upon the recently released RMS® Taiwan Earthquake and Hong Kong Typhoon models to reaffirm the company’s commitment to providing risk management tools and models for this quickly developing region.

Zifa Wang, director of IEM, noted that the professional and academic links between RMS and IEM have laid the groundwork for a mutually beneficial working rapport. “The RMS-IEM partnership brings together the two most capable firms in the field: IEM as the principal earthquake engineering institute in China and RMS as the world’s leading risk modeling firm,” he stated. “Together we will be in the best position to build a new generation of capabilities for quantifying and managing earthquake risk in China.”

About RMS
Risk Management Solutions is the world’s leading provider of products and services for catastrophe risk management. More than 400 leading insurers, reinsurers, trading companies, and other financial institutions rely on RMS models to quantify, manage, and transfer risk. Founded at Stanford University in 1988, RMS serves clients today from offices in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. For more information, visit our web site at www.rms.com. RMS is a registered trademark, and the RMS logo is a trademark of Risk Management Solutions, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

About IEM
The China Earthquake Administration’s Institute of Engineering Mechanics (IEM) is the premier institute of earthquake engineering in China, and one of the world’s foremost leaders in the field. Founded in 1954, IEM drafted the first seismic design code for buildings in China, and went on to design the country’s first shaking table and set of accelerographs. The institute retains more than 200 researchers on staff, and offers both masters’ and doctoral programs in earthquake engineering. IEM is currently organizing the next world conference on earthquake engineering, to be held in Beijing in October 2008. For more information, please visit http://www.iem.net.cn.