Howden Re has appointed two catastrophe analytics specialists to its Asia operations as the reinsurance broker bolsters regional capabilities
The new hires follow a year when natural disasters inflicted $73 billion in economic losses across the Asia-Pacific – with only $9 billion insured.
Renuka Janwalker (pictured above, left) joins as head of catastrophe analytics, Asia, while Ramdeo Gupta (pictured above, right) will start as senior catastrophe analyst, Asia, next month.
Both executives join from Gallagher Re, where Janwalker headed the Mumbai catastrophe modeling team for the UK business unit and Gupta focused on automation solutions to improve modeling efficiency.
The company’s expansion also follows elevated catastrophe activity in 2025, when losses exceeded the 10-year average of $66 billion, Munich Re data shows. The region's 88% protection gap – where economic losses vastly outstrip insurance coverage – has intensified demand for sophisticated risk analytics.
Super Typhoon Ragasa, which struck Taiwan, Hong Kong and southern China in September with maximum sustained winds of 270 kph, generated insured losses expected to exceed tens of millions of US dollars, Aon figures indicate. Economic losses in Hong Kong alone reached HK$2-3 billion ($257-386 million).
Cyclone Senyar proved far more devastating, causing at least $19.8 billion in economic losses across Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia whilst killing over 1,501 people. Thailand's University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce estimated economic losses in the country's southern region at 40 billion baht ($1.24 billion).
The March 2025 earthquake spanning Myanmar, Thailand, China and Vietnam killed 4,500 people and generated $12 billion in overall losses, though only $1.5 billion was insured, Munich Re reported.
"Against the backdrop of increased climate volatility across the region, clients are increasingly seeking analytics that combine global insight with local knowledge to support informed decision-making in an elevated risk environment," said Andy Souter, head of Asia Pacific at Howden Re International.
Howden Re operates through Moody's RMS Intelligent Risk Platform, a cloud-native system that delivers catastrophe model runs up to 10 times faster than traditional on-premise environments.
The broker removed its legacy modeling infrastructure to run exclusively through the platform, which provides access to North America Wildfire and Global Flood peril models.
The catastrophe modeling industry is dominated by Moody's RMS and Verisk's AIR Worldwide, with smaller specialized vendors including KatRisk and JBA Risk Management accounting for less than 5% of industry licenses, survey data shows.
Janwalker brings more than 16 years of experience in catastrophe modeling, risk quantification and internal model validation. Gupta has over 14 years in catastrophe analytics, providing modeling support for reinsurance placements across the region.
Tim Edwards, head of Howden Re International analytics, said advanced analytics play a critical role in understanding potential impact from natural catastrophe events.
"By continuing to invest in our analytics capability, we are helping clients better anticipate risk, respond more effectively when events happen and, over time, support broader access to coverage for the communities and businesses that need it most," Edwards said.
