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EQECAT Provides Risk Analysis Support for the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility

June 11, 2007

Oakland, California

EQECAT, Inc., a subsidiary of ABSG Consulting Inc. (“ABS Consulting”), announced today that it provided the hurricane and earthquake risk assessment, and the design of the parametric insurance contracts which supported the formation and operation of the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) that became operational on June 1.

This Caribbean-owned, regional institution is the first regional disaster insurance facility in the world. Its reserves come from participating countries and donors. Funds from Canada, the United Kingdom and the World Bank -- through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development -- have already been received, and contributions from Bermuda, France and the Caribbean Development Bank have been pledged.

Rick Clinton, EQECAT's president, said “EQECAT was pleased to have assisted the World Bank and the participating Caribbean countries by providing the fundamental risk analysis and contract design necessary to launch this facility.”

Mr. Clinton said EQECAT’s work focused on a wide range of services, including:

• the collection of exposure information to define the financial loss potential in each country;

• the development of risk models for hurricane and earthquake exposure in the region;

• quantification of the potential monetary damage to the countries for various return periods using the risk models;

• an estimate of the potential government deficits arising from damage to government assets, plus the probable decrease in government tax revenues -- effectively coverage for “government business interruption” -- arising from damage to commercial businesses;

• the design of parametric insurance contracts which would promptly pay out policy proceeds based on the estimated wind speeds or ground shaking occurring during a catastrophe event; and,

• the furnishing of a probabilistic catastrophic risk model to the facility manager to enable the manager to price each parametric contract, as well as estimate the aggregate risk to the facility in conjunction with a dynamic financial model operated by the manager.

CCRIF participating governments are: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St.Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands.

Mr. Clinton said that the design of the parametric insurance contracts was based upon EQECAT’s extensive experience in developing parametric loss triggers for the catastrophe bond markets. Parametric contracts enable each country to transfer government deficit cash flow risk that otherwise would be difficult to place in traditional insurance markets, and receive prompt payments not subject to protracted claims settlement practices.

Mr. Clinton said “EQECAT believes that application of probabilistic risk models and parametric insurance contracts will prove to be an essential tool in assisting developing countries to manage their natural catastrophe risk.”

ABSG Consulting Is A Leading Global Provider of Risk Management Services

ABSG Consulting Inc. is a leading independent global provider of risk management services combining industry specialists, risk modeling and practical engineering and technology solutions to help business, finance, industry and government manage risk. Through a comprehensive and integrated risk management approach, ABS Consulting is committed to helping clients reduce business interruption and manage catastrophic, operational, and security risks. ABS Consulting is headquartered in Houston, Texas. For additional information, please log on to www.absconsulting.com.

EQECAT Serves Global Clients Through Extensive WORLDCATenterprise™

Through its user-friendly, extreme-risk modeling software, WORLDCATenterprise™, EQECAT enables clients to assess and manage potential damage and loss from wind, earthquakes, flood, wildfire, and terrorism, among other perils. WORLDCATenterprise™ includes 177 natural hazard software models for 89 countries spanning six continents.

EQECAT and its parent, ABSG Consulting Inc. (“ABS Consulting”), serve the global property and casualty insurance industry, major multinational corporations and financial institutions. EQECAT is known as the technical leader and innovator in the development of analysis tools and methodologies to quantify insurers’ and major corporations’ exposure to natural and man-made catastrophic risk.

EQECAT was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Oakland, California. For additional information, please log on to www.absconsulting.com and www.EQECAT.com.

For more information, contact:

Thomas Larsen
EQECAT, Inc.
1-510-817-3100 | tlarsen@absconsulting.com

Eric R. Samansky
The Samansky Group
1-516-319-0858 | eric@samanskygroup.com