LONDON, 3 September 2012 – Aon Benfield, the global reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor of Aon plc (NYSE:AON), has launched ELEMENTS 7, the loss calculation platform from Impact Forecasting, which enables insurers to more easily customise catastrophe models. Insurers can now incorporate their own views on the risk of property damage through customised vulnerability curves, based on their actual loss experience or current portfolio. This in turn produces estimates of potential financial losses that help to better inform and influence reinsurance buying strategies.

The architectural features to the ELEMENTS 7 platform have been developed in response to a growing desire for transparency within catastrophe risk assessment, including improved understanding of non-modelled perils and the proposed Solvency II regulations in the European Union. The platform is also beneficial where insurers have existing business or wish to expand into territories where models do not currently exist.

The platform gives insurers access to Impact Forecasting’s 30 catastrophe models spanning over 20 territories and six key perils. ELEMENTS 7 gives access to insight on territories worldwide, including for the peak risk zones and the newly released models for Turkish and Moroccan earthquake and German storm surge.

ELEMENTS 7 delivers three key benefits for insurers:
 TRANSPARENCY – its well-documented structure means every step of the calculation process is clearly defined and can be understood.
 CUSTOMISABLE – ability to achieve loss estimates that are more aligned with a company’s loss history by creating customised vulnerability curves, in addition to hazard frequency and severity parameters.
 FLEXIBILITY – applications from scenario loss calculation to full probabilistic models, with improved analysis speed due to flexible client-server platform.

Steve Jakubowski, President of Impact Forecasting, said: “Catastrophe modelling platforms of the 21st century are rapidly evolving. In particular, the open-box feature of ELEMENTS 7 is fundamental for insurers to both fully understand the modelling process and modify the parts they wish to make more relevant to their own needs. In today’s climate there is a hunger for transparent, customisable and flexible solutions, and ELEMENTS caters to each of these requirements with 12 years’ proven experience.”

Adam Podlaha, international head of Impact Forecasting, commented on the possibility of using ELEMENTS 7 to integrate insurers’ internal models: “The majority of insurance and reinsurance companies need to verify model results by running their own Probable Maximum Loss/scenario events. ELEMENTS 7 enables them to do exactly that within a very short time and in a process that can be embedded into the company to ensure continuity.”

 Ends

About Aon Benfield
Aon Benfield, a division of Aon plc, is the world’s leading reinsurance intermediary and full-service capital advisor. We empower our clients to better understand, manage and transfer risk through innovative solutions and personalized access to all forms of global reinsurance capital across treaty, facultative and capital markets. As a trusted advocate, we deliver local reach to the world’s markets, an unparalleled investment in innovative analytics, including catastrophe management, actuarial and rating agency advisory. Through our professionals’ expertise and experience, we advise clients in making optimal capital choices that will empower results and improve operational effectiveness for their business. With more than 80 offices in 50 countries, our worldwide client base has access to the broadest portfolio of integrated capital solutions and services. To learn how Aon Benfield helps empower results, please visit aonbenfield.com.

About Impact Forecasting
Impact Forecasting LLC is a catastrophe model development center of excellence within Aon Benfield whose seismologists, meteorologists, hydrologists, engineers, mathematicians, GIS experts, finance, risk management and insurance professionals analyze the financial implications of natural and man-made catastrophes around the world. Impact Forecasting’s experts develop software tools and models that help clients understand underlying risks from hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, wildfires and terrorist attacks on property, casualty and crop insurers and reinsurers. Impact Forecasting is the only catastrophe model development firm integrated into a reinsurance intermediary. To find out more about Impact Forecasting® LLC, visit www.impactforecasting.com.
 
About Aon
Aon plc (NYSE: AON) is the leading global provider of risk management, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and
human resources solutions and outsourcing services. Through its more than 61,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites
to empower results for clients in over 120 countries via innovative and effective risk and people solutions and through
industry-leading global resources and technical expertise. Aon has been named repeatedly as the world's best broker,
best insurance intermediary, reinsurance intermediary, captives manager and best employee benefits consulting firm
by multiple industry sources. Visit www.aon.com for more information on Aon and www.aon.com/manchesterunited
to learn about Aon's global partnership and shirt sponsorship with Manchester United.