12:33 PM
Baseline Introduces CAT Models
Baseline Management Company (Summit, N.J.) has released the Baseline United States Hurricane and Earthquake Models, a new set of catastrophe models, accessible as a service via the company's hosted, web-based platform, that leverage peer-reviewed science and engineering.
The models feature an object-oriented approach, under which the hazard, vulnerability and insurance/reinsurance components are designed as stand alone objects that operate independently of one another, but can also be combined for end-to-end risk analysis. The approach allows users to analyze the sensitivity of their portfolios to different views on risk and makes it easier to update models and introduce new ones, Baseline says.
According to a press release, the new models were developed in conjunction with Applied Research Associates (ARA), an Albuquerque , N.M.-based research, engineering and technical support firm, and URS Corporation, a San Francisco-based engineering, construction and technical services firm.
Baseline's hurricane model integrates hazard and vulnerability components of ARA's HURLOSS model, which has been approved for ratemaking by the Florida Commission on Hurricane Loss Projection Methodology every year since 2000. The HURLOSS model has also been used by Florida for migration analysis and insurance rate differential modeling since 2001.
The new earthquake model, meanwhile, takes advantage of URS expertise in the areas of building codes and earthquake vulnerabilities. It also models site-specific building damage using URS' Code-Oriented Damage Assessment (CODA) methodology.