AIR Worldwide Uses Proprietary Crop Yield Model to Win Commodity Trading Competition for Third Consecutive Year.BOSTON -- For the third year in a row, AIR Worldwide Corporation's agricultural risk group has won the FACTSim Futures and Options Trading Competition using the company's industry-leading crop yield model. AIR was presented with the award at the annual Southern Region Agricultural Outlook Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The AIR crop yield model forms the basis of AIR's probabilistic (probability) probabilistic - Relating to, or governed by, probability. The behaviour of a probabilistic system cannot be predicted exactly but the probability of certain behaviours is known. Such systems may be simulated using pseudorandom numbers. crop loss model for insurers and reinsurers. "Over the contest's three month time period we achieved returns in excess of 50 percent on grain futures and options contracts," said Dr. Gerhard Zuba, Senior Research Scientist at AIR Worldwide. "The crop yield forecasts provided by the AIR model gave us a definitive advantage in developing our trading strategy In finance, a trading strategy (see also trading system) is a predefined set of rules to apply. Usually, this refers to a means used to replicate an option in order to give it an arbitrage free value in the sense that the cost of buying some financial assets to give the same for the contest. This same technology can be used by crop insurers and commodity traders to bring an entirely new level of sophistication so·phis·ti·cate v. so·phis·ti·cat·ed, so·phis·ti·cat·ing, so·phis·ti·cates v.tr. 1. To cause to become less natural, especially to make less naive and more worldly. 2. to their business decision making." The leading causes of insured losses in agriculture are drought and excessive precipitation. The AIR crop yield modelCowhich outperformed the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service in forecasting summer yields for corn and soybean soybean, soya bean, or soy pea, leguminous plant (Glycine max, G. soja, or Soja max) of the family Leguminosae (pulse family), native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Asia, where it has been in 2005 and 2006Coisolates the effects of weather on yield by coupling high-resolution soil and weather data with crop-specific weather susceptibility information. "This same underlying technology that accurately quantifies the impact of weather on crop yields also forms the basis of AIR's probabilistic crop loss model," said Dr. Oscar Vergara, Agriculture Risk Management Consultant at AIR Worldwide. "The model is used by crop insurers and reinsurers to assess and manage their risk. Insurers also employ the model for fund allocation and reinsurance The contract made between an insurance company and a third party to protect the insurance company from losses. The contract provides for the third party to pay for the loss sustained by the insurance company when the company makes a payment on the original contract. purchasing decisions." About the FACTSim Futures and Options Trading Competition The annual competition is sponsored by the Southern Extension Marketing Committee (SEMC SEMC Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications SEMC Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, AB SEMC Structural Engineering Mechanics and Computation SEMC State Emergency Management Committee (Australia) SEMC Search Engine Marketing Council ). Awards are based on profits earned using a Web-based futures and options trading simulator. The trading simulator provides real-life experience in futures and options markets by allowing contestants to make real-time trades for agricultural commodities along with energy and metals. Five-person teams from each state were invited to participate in the competition, which began on July 1, 2006. Participants had until the middle of September to make the most profit based on the team's overall trades. About AIR Worldwide Corporation AIR Worldwide Corporation (AIR) is a leading risk modeling company helping clients manage the financial impact of catastrophes and weather. Utilizing the latest science and technology, AIR models natural catastrophes in more than 40 countries and the risk from terrorism in the United States A common definition of terrorism is the systematic use or threatened use of violence to intimidate a population or government and thereby effect political, religious, or ideological change. . Other areas of expertise include site-specific seismic engineering analysis, catastrophe bonds, and property replacement cost valuation. An ISO (1) See ISO speed. (2) (International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland, www.iso.ch) An organization that sets international standards, founded in 1946. The U.S. member body is ANSI. business, AIR was founded in 1987 to provide its insurance, reinsurance, corporate, and government clients a complete line of risk modeling software and consulting services that produce consistent and reliable results. Headquartered in Boston, AIR has additional offices in North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. , Europe, and Asia. For more information, please visit www.air-worldwide.com. |
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