RMS Redefines Today’s Data Standard With The Risk Data Open Standard

MIAMI, FL – May 14, 2019 – Today at Exceedance 2019, RMS^®, the leading global risk modeling and analytics firm, announced the introduction of the Risk Data Open Standard (Risk Data OS), a new open data standard. This data structure will be given to the (re)insurance industry by RMS and will not require a license, fees, or permissions for usage. To deliver this open standard, RMS has tapped global (re)insurance leaders to join the Risk Data OS steering committee. The committee will guide the growth and development of the Risk Data OS schema. As a single, auditable data standard that supports a wide range of analytics, it can drive significant efficiency gains and cost reductions across the industry. The Risk Data OS opens up new opportunities as (re)insurers build product across a diverse set of risks. This supports interoperability, which doesn’t exist today.

The (re)insurance industry is challenged by an evolving risk landscape, dominated by complex perils such as wildfire, flood and cyber, while at the same time driving for maximum cost/benefit from investments in risk analytics. RMS is developing an efficient technical framework that supports new modeling approaches for the risks of today and the future. The Risk Data OS provides a flexible, transparent, and efficient framework that can support state-of-the-art modeling for traditional property catastrophes as well as any line of business.

“The RMS data formats (RDM and EDM) are the de-facto standards for cat risk data exchange and play a critical role throughout the insurance value chain,” said Karen White, Chief Executive Officer at RMS. “The industry and RMS needs a new modern data structure to support high quality models for new classes of risk and to solve our clients' long-standing challenges around financial modeling and interoperability. Today we introduced the Risk Data OS, enabling a completely open, interoperable and flexible data standard. To leverage this data standard no license, no fees, no permissions for usage are required. We are sharing this open data standard with the risk industry so that anyone can adopt it. Our experience tells us that this open and extensible approach is a critical value driver for the market.”

Open Standards to Enable Risk Quantification For Everyone

The Risk Data OS was designed by RMS as a comprehensive framework that provides a generic end-to-end structure for all types of risk and analytics. Building on top of the existing RMS Exposure Data Module (EDM) and Results Data Module (RDM), the Risk Data OS supports new industry models and software requirements. It empowers the user by providing a clearer picture of their complete risk. The Risk Data OS is in production today on RMS Risk Intelligence™, the open RMS platform.

Ryan Ogaard, Senior Vice President at RMS said, “The Risk Data OS supports new classes of models while maintaining the ability to use existing data structures such as the EDM and RDM. It will significantly improve efficiency and interoperability throughout the industry as it takes the guesswork out of information exchange. It is suitable for a wide range of models and is extensible to new classes of risk – by RMS or anyone else. By contributing the Risk Data OS to the industry as an Open Standard, we hope (re)insurers, brokers, modelers and others, will harness the Risk Data OS to create new opportunities and solve the puzzle of model interoperability.”

The Risk Data OS Steering Committee will review and drive the advancement of this open framework to ensure it continues to support the evolving needs of everyone in the industry. The Risk Data OS will be publicly available in January 2020 following the initial work of the steering committee members to enable any user to access the schema code, documentation, and tooling that translates between formats. Anyone can contribute extensions and modifications to the original standard.

White concluded: “The complexity of today’s risks has increased exponentially, made clear by the losses seen in floods, hurricanes and wildfires over the past two years. We understand that the success of our clients requires a fresh way of thinking and a more flexible and transparent approach for new lines of business and market opportunities beyond what was previously possible. By introducing the Risk Data OS, we’re ushering in a new era of accessibility and collaboration on risk.”