EQECAT to Provide Analysis of Probabilistic Hurricane Events for Weather Risk Solutions

September 16, 2009

Oakland, CA

Catastrophe risk modeling firm EQECAT, Inc. announced that it has been selected by Weather Risk Solutions, LLC, the developer of Hurricane Risk Landfall Options or HuRLO™, which are designed to allow eligible participants to hedge against the financial risks of hurricane landfalls, to provide analysis of probabilistic hurricane events.

"We are delighted to be working with EQECAT and look forward to benefiting from its expertise in modeling hurricane events," commented Kenneth Horowitz, Founder of Weather Risk Solutions. "Our HuRLO product is cleared by CME Clearing, a federally regulated Derivatives Clearing Organization and is currently available for purchase only by qualifying eligible contract participants such as institutional investors, financial institutions, hedge funds, businesses and certain high net worth individuals."

"HuRLOs are a new alternative available to insurers, reinsurers, financial institutions and corporations seeking contingent risk capital sources," said Bill Keogh, Senior Vice President of EQECAT.

"The selection of EQECAT by WRS highlights our extensive experience in catastrophe modeling and consulting in the structuring of natural catastrophe bonds and other alternative financial instruments," he said

Through its user-friendly risk modeling platform, WORLDCATenterprise™, EQECAT enables the global insurance, reinsurance and financial markets to quantify and manage the potential financial impact from wind, earthquake, flood, wildfire, and terrorism, among other perils. The platform incorporates 177 natural hazard software models, which include 89 countries spanning six continents.

About Weather Risk Solutions, LLC

Founded in 2002, Kenneth A. Horowitz, along with a group of experts in atmospheric sciences, including former staff of the National Hurricane Center and leading financial and economic mathematicians, developed Hurricane Risk Landfall Options - HuRLO™ - which allow market participants to hedge against or speculate on the risk that a selected coastal county or region will be the first hit by a hurricane. HuRLOs are traded through the WRS Electronic Trading Platform™ (www.HuRLOs.com), an innovative Internet-based electronic trading platform. In the primary market, market participants determine prices. The trading platform uses a pricing algorithm to calculate the price of each option sold based on the interplay of an index of historical probability data supplemented by real time weather information, and the buying decisions of market participants. In the secondary market, buyers and sellers are matched based on agreed prices input into a traditional order book. The dynamic and comprehensive site also offers weather information from the National Hurricane Center, Weather.com, AccuWeather, and Weather Underground.

EQECAT, Inc. provides state-of-the-art products and services to the global property and casualty insurance, reinsurance and financial markets. EQECAT is the technical leader and innovator of catastrophe risk management models that quantify exposure to a range of natural and man-made catastrophic risks.

Through its modeling software platform, WORLDCATenterprise, EQECAT enables clients to quantify and manage the potential financial impact of natural hazards. WORLDCATenterprise includes 181 natural hazard software models for 95 countries spanning six continents. These models are based upon innovative applications of the latest science, engineering expertise, claims and exposure data and advanced mathematics.

EQECAT, a subsidiary of ABSG Consulting Inc., was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Oakland, California.

For more information, contact:

pr@eqecat.com

Back to Press Releases