Karen Clark & Company Issues First IMARC® Data Score

Boston, MA – June 2, 2008

Karen Clark & Company announced today that it issued the first IMARC® Data Score to HomeWise Insurance Companies. HomeWise earned an IMARC® Data Score of 675 (Excellent).

HomeWise was the first company to receive an IMARC® Data Score as a result of the rigorous IMARC® Data Review process. The review process involved a detailed evaluation of internal data processes carried out through a series of onsite meetings with HomeWise, their policy quoting system and policy management system vendors, their agents and field inspectors. The HomeWise exposure data used for catastrophe modeling was thoroughly analyzed and tested for resolution, completeness and accuracy using independent data sources, methodologies and actual engineering surveys of the insured properties.

The IMARC® Data Score was included in the disclosure of the Mangrove Re Ltd. Principal At-Risk Variable Rate Note Program. Mangrove Re Ltd. issued notes on May 30, 2008, providing $210 million of coverage against hurricane losses in Florida.

"I believe the IMARC® Data Score is important to the future of a healthy Insurance-Linked Securities market and will become a major consideration when it comes to evaluating future ILS deals," said Dr. John Seo of Fermat Capital Management, LLC. "Of course, no single factor in isolation should be the sole basis of an investment decision, but I expect that as time goes by an IMARC® Data Score will come to be expected by investors for any significant indemnity-based ILS deal. If the IMARC® Data Score is not given, we would want to know why."

"The IMARC® Data Review is independent of any particular catastrophe model," said Karen Clark, President and CEO of Karen Clark & Company. "The review process is applicable to the exposure data elements used to assess the catastrophe loss potential for all regions, perils and vendor models. It is a standard process that results in an exposure data score providing external stakeholders with a consistent and comparable measure of exposure data quality across companies," continued Ms. Clark.

"At HomeWise, it's a top priority to obtain high quality data on the properties we insure," said Dale Hammond, President of HomeWise. "This enables us to have more confidence in our catastrophe model results and our risk management decisions. To that end, we have invested significantly in high quality systems, processes and data, and we wanted to have a team of independent experts evaluate our processes and data relative to best practices and standard benchmarks," continued Mr. Hammond.

"Reinsurers and catastrophe bond investors have been urging us to develop a standard exposure data review and scoring process that would be consistent across companies," said Ms. Clark. "For HomeWise, twenty-five specific data attributes were scored for resolution, completeness and accuracy, and nearly half of the data attributes and all of the highest weighted attributes scored at least 90 percent on completeness and accuracy. The IMARC® scoring algorithm resulted in a score of 675 out of a possible 800 which according to the IMARC® scale is Excellent."

"We value the IMARC® Data Score because we factor data quality into our pricing and underwriting decisions," said Ian Branagan, Senior Vice President of Renaissance Re. "While we perform our own internal data checks, we value additional reviews as extensive and thorough as IMARC®. We are pleased that the industry has a new standard that can contribute to ongoing efforts to further enhance the quality of data utilized by the industry and to further a more consistent, robust understanding of catastrophe risk," continued Mr. Branagan.