RMS/Florida Reconcile, Sort Of...

It wasn't long ago that public officials in Florida were casting serious aspersions on Newark, Calif.-based catastrophe/hurricane modeling specialist Risk Management Solutions (RMS) for supposedly stacking the deck in favor of insurance companies by switching to a medium-term model that emphasized the increased frequency and severity of recent storms. However, it seems the two parties have come to an understanding, or the State of Florida has made its point. RMS has issued a statement saying that Florida had certified an updated version of the vendor's hurricane model. During any other year, that would have been a routine announcement.Since Florida does the certifying, RMS had little choice but to withdraw its "medium-term" model and toe the line. But the vendor nevertheless reasserted its position (and its dignity, one might say) in its drily expressed explanation of the conflict's denouement:

This is the second version of the model that RMS submitted to the FCHLPM for review. The first uses RMS' forward-looking medium-term view of hurricane activity that has become the 'new average' since 1995, reflecting the increase in hurricane frequency and intensity being experienced in the Atlantic basin. Earlier this spring a review by the FCHLPM Professional Team indicated that the regulatory standards would not accommodate the RMS forward-looking medium-term view, so RMS withdrew this version of its model from the certification process, and re-submitted one based on the historical average.

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio