Lloyd’s Ark Syndicate Licenses Use of RiskLink® from RMS

Ark Syndicate Management has entered into an agreement with Risk Management Solutions to license its RiskLink® catastrophe modeling platform. “Ark will use RMS peril models as part of a holistic approach to understanding catastrophe risks and accumulations, and to report its exposures as it sets about developing its global portfolio of insured risks,” said a RMS bulletin.

Ark is a Lloyd’s underwriting agency, founded in early 2007 by senior executives from Wellington and Aspen. It is funded by Jeff Greenberg’s private equity firm, Aquiline Capital Partners.

Ark becomes the latest Lloyd’s Syndicate to acquire a license from RMS. It “already licenses RiskLink® and its catastrophe models to 18 of the 20 largest Lloyd’s managing agents,” said the announcement. It also noted that Ark’s decision to license the software confirms “that RMS can meet the modeling needs of all sizes of reinsurer in the London market.”

Managing catastrophic exposures plays an increasingly prominent role in the global insurance industry in general and certainly at Lloyd’s. RMS has been in the forefront of efforts to update cat models and to make them more sophisticated. Ian Beaton, CEO of Ark Syndicate Management, praised the Company’s “reputation for developing and supporting highly sophisticated catastrophe models in the market.”

Ark trades as Syndicate 4020 at Lloyd’s. Its parent company, Group Ark Insurance Holdings Ltd., is based in Bermuda. The company has capacity to write £114 million ($226 million) of business in 2007. Depending on market conditions, this is likely to double in 2008.