Praedictus and Speedwell Partner to Bring Praedictus Croplock to Parametric Market

CHARLESTON, S.C., Feb. 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Praedictus Climate Solutions is partnering with The Speedwell Group to bring a new product, Praedictus Croplock, to the parametric risk transfer market.

Croplock offers an index-based solution for managing crop yield risk. Using proprietary crop yield modelling, Praedictus has developed indices designed for use in parametric products. Each index represents an ongoing prediction of crop yield for a given commodity over a given region.

The historical data for structuring and pricing for Croplock indices will now be available through Speedwell Weather as part of the Speedwell SuperPack^®. Settlement Data for executed transactions will be supplied via Speedwell Settlement Services Ltd.

“Agriculture markets need better, more widely available, and more flexible tools to manage crop production risk. Fortunately, the science of how crops grow provides a solid, but so far largely underutilized, basis to accomplish this. Praedictus has captured the best of this science in a flexible and scalable modelling platform and is thrilled to be able to offer these capabilities for a wide range of agricultural markets around the world,” said Josh Perlman, CEO of Praedictus Climate Solutions.

David Whitehead, CEO of Speedwell Settlement Services said, “We are excited to provide these innovative indices to the parametric market. The Praedictus team brings a technologically advanced index that has great potential as a hedging tool. Speedwell brings years’ of experience in this market as well as a suite of products designed to facilitate the use of these indices as hedging tools. As with all indices provided by Speedwell Settlement Services, we will be providing the full range of services including Settlement Specification, Settlement Data, as well as Settlement Certificates.”

About Praedictus Climate Solutions (www.praedictus.com)
Started in 2015, Praedictus is an agriculture technology company with deep experience in biophysical crop modelling and high-performance computing. Praedictus’ goal is to empower clients with exposure to weather and climate-driven crop risk to rigorously quantify, forecast, and mitigate that risk.

About Speedwell Settlement Services (www.SpeedwellSettlementServices.com)
Speedwell Settlement Services is the leading provider of meteorological Settlement Data for index-based weather risk contracts worldwide. With a focus on transparency, accuracy, and reliability Speedwell has provided Settlement Data for both over-the-counter weather transactions as well as exchange listed contracts. In addition to data services Speedwell Settlement Services engages in weather station installation / management designed to support weather risk transfer.

Speedwell Settlement Services was authorized by the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority with an effective date of 7 August 2018 and was granted a Part 4A permission under Part 4A of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ("FSMA") to carry on the regulated activity of administering a benchmark. That Part 4A permission constitutes SSS's 'Registration' for the purposes of the UK Benchmarks Register.