Caribbean catastrophe fund gets another award

LONDON, England, December 11, 2008 – The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) has received further industry recognition. This time the world’s only multi-nation catastrophe risk fund has been named ‘Transaction of the Year’ at the recent Insurance Day London Market Awards.

That award comes on the heels of the CCRIF receiving the honour of Re/Insurance Initiative of the Year at the 2008 Review Worldwide Reinsurance Awards.

Dominic Christian, Chief Executive Officer of Aon Benfield International – the CCRIF’s reinsurance broker – said the facility could serve as a template for developing catastrophe risk insurance in other regions.

“Although it has been said time and again about this facility, the CCRIF is really an insurance pioneer, from the concept to the risk transfer process, the facility has utilised innovative means to launch a well needed product,” he said.

“It is our hope that the CCRIF’s success will lead to the development of similar products in regions that would benefit most from it.”

The winners of Insurance Day London Market Awards are selected by a judging panel which includes leading London finance companies such as Lloyd’s, Swiss Re and Barclay’s Commercial Bank.

“We’ve really focused our efforts this past year on making sure that we keep attuned to the needs of our member governments and, although there is plenty yet to be done, we are thankful for the confidence displayed in the facility by the London market,” said Simon Young, Chief Executive Officer of CaribRM, Facility Supervisor.

The CCRIF is the first multi-country risk pool in the world. It is a regional insurance fund for Caribbean governments designed to limit the financial impact of catastrophic hurricanes and earthquakes by quickly providing financial liquidity when a policy is triggered.

In September the CCRIF paid out approximately US$6.3 million to the government of the one of its 16 member countries – the Turks and Caicos Islands – in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

The others that are currently members of the fund are Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.