Aon is to facilitate the use of its catastrophe data in open source systems to support re/insurers’ ability to enhance vendor model choice and enable broader risk management insights.

The broker’s ImpactWorkbench tool will  now include a new feature to support the Open Exposure Data (OED) format, which means re/insurers can now produce import-ready files for Oasis-based catastrophe modelling systems, including Nasdaq’s Risk Modelling for Catastrophes (NRMC) and Aon’s ELEMENTS platform from Impact Forecasting.

Helen Attenborough, Executive Managing Director for Analytics Software & Product Development at Reinsurance Solutions, Aon, said: “By backing open catastrophe modelling ecosystems, we are excited to bring more choice to insurers and help them better quantify natural catastrophe risk in an efficient way. ImpactWorkbench enables a transparent view of the exposure data and conversion processes, which can help to develop an understanding of the models and how they represent reality.”

Aon said following the costliest decade on record, economic losses from natural disasters reached $75 billion in the first half of 2020 and has reinforced re/insurers’ need to understand and manage catastrophe risk, in addition to the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

However, at present catastrophe modellers are tasked with the cleansing and continuous re-formatting of exposure data to analyse in vendor catastrophe models.

The change to ImpactWorkbench will enable re/insurers to transform exposure data sets into vendor input formats to save time, reduce the potential for error and increase transparency.

“With increasing choices of catastrophe models, a repeatable and efficient process for translating data will enable analysts to access insights more efficiently,” added Aon. “As Aon continues to work with re/insurers to develop a bespoke view of catastrophe risk, there is a need to understand the underlying data assumptions and have a consistent and accurate methodology for the conversion of data. This approach to data can also serve as a means to better understand and quantify the impact of the contributors to unmodeled losses, as well as lead to a better understanding of the uncertainty in modeled loss estimates.”

Dickie Whitaker, CEO of Oasis Loss Modelling Framework, said: “The exposure management function in our industry is in need of improved efficiency and Aon should be applauded for supporting clients by driving forward this standard.”

James Lay, commercial director of NRMC, Nasdaq said: “Supporting open data standards is a key enabler for the industry and Aon’s support of OED via ImpactWorkbench will help with the adoption of Oasis-based models throughout the risk transfer chain.”