Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) Licenses RMS Catastrophe Models

London, U.K. - January 30, 2017  RMS, the world’s leading catastrophe risk management firm, today announced that the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) has licensed RMS® RiskAssessor™, in addition to the RMS® North America Hurricane Model and RMS® U.S. Severe Convective Storm Model. The models and vulnerability assessment tools will enable IBHS to focus its research more closely on the biggest drivers of loss from storm damage in the U.S. to help strengthen the nation’s resilience to catastrophic storm damage.

IBHS will utilize RiskAssessor to quantify the potential benefits of its research findings, such as estimating the loss-reduction as a result of strengthening roofs that are typically damaged during extreme winds. In addition, the combination of IBHS’ independent scientific research with RMS model science will enable the institute to better demonstrate how extreme weather, such as hurricanes and large hail, can damage or destroy buildings. The deeper insight will inform development of improved construction practices and cost-effective mitigation measures to reduce property losses.

Michael Young, senior director of model product management at RMS said: “IBHS is a world-class research institution whose primary focus on risk reduction through improved building construction is shared by RMS. We look forward to deepening our partnership with them.”

In addition, IBHS has licensed RMS HWind Real-Time Analysis, which provides a dynamic view of hurricane windfields as they evolve by collating data from multiple remote-sensing data sources. The enhanced views of a hurricane’s windfield will allow IBHS researchers to concentrate their research on the most heavily damaged areas in any hurricane event, as well as inform and validate their ongoing research into wind hazard and vulnerability.

IBHS’ vice president of research, Dr. Anne Cope, said: “Partnering with RMS to access the latest scientific research into extreme weather ensures the valuable work being done at IBHS can be rapidly integrated into risk management tools used by our member companies and the wider insurance industry.”

IBHS research is funded solely by insurers and reinsurers, many of whom already use RMS models. By using the RMS models and RiskAssessor, IBHS will use the risk modeling language that is consistent with its member companies, enabling them to turn the granular data they produce into actionable insights for the whole (re)insurance industry.