The Caribbean Description Expanded Info

The Caribbean System Description

CCRIF SPC is a segregated portfolio company, owned, operated and registered in the Caribbean. It limits the financial impact of catastrophic hurricanes, earthquakes and excess rainfall events to Caribbean and – since 2015 – Central American governments by quickly providing short-term liquidity when a parametric insurance policy is triggered. It is the world’s first regional fund utilizing parametric insurance, giving member governments the unique opportunity to purchase earthquake, hurricane and excess rainfall catastrophe coverage with lowest-possible pricing.

In 2007, the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility was formed as the first multi-country risk pool in the world, and was the first insurance instrument to successfully develop parametric policies backed by both traditional and capital markets. It was designed as a regional catastrophe fund for Caribbean governments to limit the financial impact of devastating hurricanes and earthquakes by quickly providing financial liquidity when a policy is triggered.

In 2014, the Facility was restructured into a segregated portfolio company (SPC) to facilitate expansion into new products and geographic areas and is now named CCRIF SPC. The new structure, in which products are offered through a number of segregated portfolios, allows for total segregation of risk. In April 2015, CCRIF signed an MOU with COSEFIN - the Council of Ministers of Finance of Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic - to enable Central American countries to formally join the facility.

CCRIF SPC is registered in the Cayman Islands and operates as a virtual organization, supported by a network of service providers covering the areas of risk management, risk modelling, captive management, reinsurance, reinsurance brokerage, asset management, technical assistance, corporate communications and information technology.

CCRIF offers earthquake, tropical cyclone and excess rainfall policies to Caribbean and Central American governments.

CCRIF helps to mitigate the short-term cash flow problems small developing economies suffer after major natural disasters. CCRIF’s parametric insurance mechanism allows it to provide rapid payouts to help members finance their initial disaster response and maintain basic government functions after a catastrophic event.

Since the inception of CCRIF in 2007, the facility has made 38 payouts to 13 member governments on their tropical cyclone, earthquake and/or excess rainfall policies totalling almost US$139 million. Also, CCRIF has made 7 payments totalling almost US$700,000 under member governments’ Aggregated Deductible Cover (ADC).

The ADC is a new policy feature for tropical cyclone and earthquake policies introduced in the 2017/2018 policy year. The ADC was designed to be akin to a dedicated reserve fund providing a minimum payment for events that are objectively not sufficient to trigger a CCRIF policy, because the modelled loss is below the attachment point.

The policy payouts and ADC payments are shown in the tables below.

CCRIF was developed under the technical leadership of the World Bank and with a grant from the Government of Japan. It was capitalized through contributions to a Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) by the Government of Canada, the European Union, the World Bank, the governments of the United Kingdom and France, the Caribbean Development Bank and the governments of Ireland and Bermuda, as well as through membership fees paid by participating governments.

In 2014, another MDTF was established by the World Bank to support the development of CCRIF SPC’s new products for current and potential members, and facilitate the entry for Central American countries and additional Caribbean countries. The MDTF currently channels funds from various donors, including: Canada, through Global Affairs Canada; the United States, through the Department of the Treasury; the European Union, through the European Commission; Germany, through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and KfW; and Ireland. In 2017, the Caribbean Development Bank, with resources provided by Mexico, approved a grant to CCRIF SPC to provide enhanced insurance coverage to the Bank’s Borrowing Member Countries.

Nineteen Caribbean governments are currently members of the facility: Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, Sint Maarten, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago and Turks & Caicos Islands. Two Central American governments are currently members of the facility: Nicaragua and Panama.

 

Payouts

Event Country Affected Payouts (US$)
Earthquake, 29 November 2007 Dominica 528,021
Saint Lucia 418,976
Tropical Cyclone Ike, September 2008 Turks and Caicos Islands 6,303,913
Earthquake, 12 January 2010 Haiti 7,753,579
Tropical Cyclone Earl, August 2010 Anguilla 4,282,733
Tropical Cyclone Tomas, October 2010 Barbados 8,560,247
Saint Lucia 3,241,613
St Vincent & the Grenadines 1,090,388
Tropical Cyclone Gonzalo, October 2014 Anguilla - Excess Rainfall Policy 493,465
Trough System, 7-8 November 2014 Anguilla 559,249
St. Kitts & Nevis 1,055,408
Trough System, 21 November 2014 Barbados 1,284,882
Tropical Storm Erika, 27 August 2015 Dominica - Excess Rainfall policy 2,402,153
Earthquake, June 9, 2016 Nicaragua 500,000
Tropical Cyclone Earl, August 2016 Belize - Excess Rainfall policy 261,073
Tropical Cyclone Matthew, September 2016 Barbados 975,000
Barbados - Excess Rainfall policy 753,277
Saint Lucia - Excess Rainfall policy 3,781,788
St. Vincent & the Grenadines - Excess Rainfall policy 285,349
Tropical Cyclone Matthew, October 2016 Haiti 20,388,067
Haiti - Excess Rainfall policy 3,020,767
Tropical Cyclone Otto, November 2016 Nicaragua 1,110,193
Tropical Cyclone Irma, September 2017 St. Kitts and Nevis 2,294,603
Anguilla 6,529,100
Anguilla - Excess Rainfall policy 158,823
Antigua & Barbuda 6,794,875
Turks & Caicos Islands 13,631,865
Turks & Caicos Islands - Excess Rainfall policy 1,232,769
The Bahamas - Excess Rainfall policy 163,598
Tropical Cyclone Maria, September 2017 Dominica 19,294,800
Dominica - Excess Rainfall policy 1,054,022
Saint Lucia - Excess Rainfall policy 671,013
Turks & Caicos islands 419,372
Barbados - Excess Rainfall policy 1,917,506
St. Vincent & the Grenadines - Excess Rainfall policy 247,257
Rainfall event, October 18-20 2017 Trinidad & Tobago - Excess Rainfall 7,007,886
Tropical Storm Kirk, October 2018 Barbados - Excess Rainfall 5,813,299
Rainfall event, October 18-20 2018 Trinidad & Tobago - Excess Rainfall 2,534,550
Total for the period June 2007 - October 2018

 

138,815,479
Total for Tropical Cyclone (14)

 

94,916,769
Total for Earthquake (4)

 

9,200,576
Total for Excess Rainfall (20)

 

34,698,134

 

Payments Under the TC/EQ Aggregated Deductible Cover (ADC)

Event Country Payments (US$)
Tropical Cyclone Irma, September 2017 Haiti 162,000
Bahamas 234,000
Tropical Cyclone Maria, September 2017 Saint Lucia 123,750
Anguilla 29,250
Antigua & Barbuda 32,400
St. Kitts & Nevis 27,150
Earthquake, October 7, 2018 Haiti 91,438
Total   699,988