CCRIF Named Re/Insurance Initiative of the Year

The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) has been honored as the “Re/Insurance Initiative of the Year” at the 2008 Review Worldwide Reinsurance Awards. It’s the first such recognition for the 16-month old facility. A CCRIF bulletin described the ward as “cementing its reputation as a valuable and innovative form of catastrophe cover on the global stage.”

Jamaican High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, His Excellency the Honorable Burchell Whiteman O.J. accepted the award on behalf of the CCRIF members. He listed them as follows: Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

He described the participating governments as “leading the pack in developing insurance tools to proactively manage catastrophic risk.” He added: “The CCRIF is a reflection of the commitment its member governments have to limiting their financial exposure to the perils of hurricanes and earthquakes, using the facility to pool their risk and provide a source of immediate liquidity after a catastrophic event.”

The organization’s bulletin described the CCRIF as ‘the first multi-country risk pool in the world, and is also the first insurance instrument to successfully develop a parametric policy backed by both traditional and capital markets. It is a regional insurance fund for Caribbean governments designed to limit the financial impact of catastrophic hurricanes and earthquakes to Caribbean governments by quickly providing financial liquidity when a policy is triggered. Last year, the CCRIF paid out approximately US$1 million to Dominica and St. Lucia in the aftermath of the November 2007 earthquake that shook the Eastern Caribbean.”

Commentary: However, references to the current turmoil in the Caribbean were somewhat absent from the awards celebration. The CCRIF will be severely tested by the recent onslaughts of Hurricane Gustav, tropical storm Hanna and the ravages of Hurricane Ike.

Source: CCRIF – http://ccrif.org