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  • The CCRIF Board and CEO share lens time with Hon. Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, Cayman Islands Premier, and Minister of Finance
    and Economic Development, Education, District Administration & Lands and Cabinet Office at the launch of the Ivan+20 Initiative in
    Grand Cayman – March 13, 2024. Back row L-R: Mr. Timothy Antoine (Chairman), Mrs. Saundra Bailey (Deputy Chairperson),
    Ms. Deneice Yarde, Mr. Michael Gayle, and Mrs. Mariame McIntosh-Robinson (Board Members), Mr. Isaac Anthony (Chief Executive
    Officer). Front row L-R: Hon. Premier O’Connor-Connolly, Mr. Aidan Harrigan (Board Member)
  • CCRIF SPC limits the financial impact of natural hazard events to
    Caribbean and Central American governments by quickly providing
    short-term liquidity when a policy is triggered. CCRIF offers parametric
    insurance policies for tropical cyclones, earthquakes, excess rainfall, and
    the fisheries and electric utility sectors.
  • CCRIF operates as a development insurance company - as the goods and services we
    provide are designed to enhance the overall developmental prospects of our members.
    The Facility is a working example of a disaster risk financing instrument and one of a suite
    of disaster risk financing instruments available to governments to assist in post-disaster
    recovery, to help close the protection gap and ensure that we "leave no one behind".
  • CCRIF:
    - Is the world's first multi-country, multi-peril risk pool based on parametric insurance
    - Provides parametric catastrophe insurance for Caribbean and Central American
      governments; and now for electric utility companies
    - Provides quick liquidity following a natural disaster helping to close the liquidity gap
  • Since its inception in 2007, CCRIF has made 64 payouts totalling US$268 million to 16
    of its member governments on their tropical cyclone (TC), earthquake (EQ) and/or
    excess rainfall (XSR) policies – all within 14 days of the event.
  • Governments have used CCRIF payouts for a variety of purposes, including immediate
    recovery and repair activities; providing food, water and shelter to affected persons;
    stabilizing public facilities such as water treatment plants; making long-term improvements
    to critical infrastructure such as roads, drains and bridges; mitigation activities to enhance
    resilience against future natural hazards; and to “keep the wheels of government turning”,
    for example by paying salaries of critical government personnel. For example, 62% of all
    payouts have been used partially or wholly for immediate post-event activities; 14% have
    been used for long-term infrastructure work; 6% have been used for both risk mitigation
    activities and assistance to economic sectors – in this case agriculture; and 3% have been
    allocated to establish a national recovery fund.
  • We need to be mindful that CCRIF was not designed to cover all losses
    on the ground – but rather to allow governments to reduce their
    budget volatility and to guarantee sufficient capital for emergency
    relief. CCRIF therefore acts as a vast security blanket for its members
    which are vulnerable to the increasing severity and frequency of
    climate and weather-related perils, as well as seismic hazards.
  • The truth is what we do at CCRIF is about supporting governments to help their
    populations – communities, businesses and key sectors such as education,
    agriculture, and tourism. A rough assessment of the beneficiaries of CCRIF’s
    payouts show that over 3.5 million persons in the Caribbean and Central America
    have benefitted directly and indirectly from these payouts after a natural
    disaster.
  • CCRIF currently has 26 members:
    - 19 Caribbean governments – Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, The 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, Turks & Caicos Islands
    - 4 Central American governments – Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama
    - 3 Caribbean electric utility company - ANGLEC, GRENLEC, LUCELEC
  • We are particularly proud of our fisheries product – COAST – which was launched in 2019
    and is currently offered to Saint Lucia and Grenada. COAST is a partnership between
    the US Department of State, the World Bank, CCRIF and the Caribbean Regional Fisheries
    Mechanism (CRFM). While COAST is a sovereign insurance product purchased by
    governments, it acts like a microinsurance product for individuals in the fisheries sector,
    protecting the livelihoods of fisherfolk, boat captains and crew, fish vendors etc. The policy
    is structured to include a mechanism to transfer funds from a payout received by the
    Government to pre-identified beneficiaries in the fisheries sector.
  • In response to demands by our member governments, we also are in the process of
    developing new products – for drought, agriculture, and flooding (run-off).
    Today, insurance within the context of disaster risk financing is both relevant and
    necessary given the realities we are now faced with, such as climate change.
  • CCRIF proposes that disaster preparedness must be a function of:
    disaster risk mitigation + ecosystem management + disaster risk
    financing + cutting-edge social protection strategies (including
    consideration of psychological impacts of future disasters on our
    populations).
CCRIF promises its clients to:
  • Fill a gap in available insurance offerings for natural catastrophes
  • Ensure speedy payouts when a policy is triggered
  • Charge lowest possible premiums consistent with long-term sustainability
  • Facilitate capacity building in disaster risk management and ex-ante risk financing
  • Be transparent and accountable
  • Be innovative and provide new products to meet the needs of our members
Our mission is underpinned by 7 strategic objectives:
  • (S01) Innovative and Responsive Parametric Products - To provide products,services and tools responsive to the needs of members
  • (S02) Resilience - To enhance capacity for disater risk management and climate change adaptation
  • (S03) Financial Sustainability - To sustain financial solvency and integrity
  • (S04) Corporate Governance - To sustain corporate integrity
  • (S05) Member Relations and Engagement - To deepen our relationships with our member governments and to strengthen engagement with members
  • (S06) Scaling Up - To increase member coverage, expand membership and develop new products and services
  • (S07) Strategic Partnerships - To expand and deepen strategic partnerships

Who We Are

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. In 2014, the Facility was restructured into a segregated portfolio company (SPC) to facilitate offering new products and expansion into new geographic areas and is now named CCRIF SPC. It is owned, operated and registered in the Caribbean.

CCRIF SPC limits the financial impact of natural hazard events to Caribbean and Central American governments by quickly providing short-term liquidity when a policy is triggered. CCRIF offers parametric insurance policies for tropical cyclones, earthquakes, excess rainfall, the fisheries sector and the electric and water utilities sectors.

CCRIF currently has 30 members.
19
Caribbean Member Governments
4
Central American Member Governments
3
Electric Utilities Members
3
Water Utilities
Members
1
Tourist Attraction Member
75
Number of Payouts (TC,EQ,XS)
359
Total Payouts To Date (US$M)
CCRIF Development Partners and Donors Throughout the Years
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 UK 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, the Central America and Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Program (CACCRIP) 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, and Germany, through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and KfW. Additional financing has been provided by the Caribbean Development Bank, with resources provided by Mexico; the Government of Ireland; and the European Union through its Regional Resilience Building Facility managed by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and The World Bank. In 2024, CCRIF received funding from CDB, through the Canada-CARICOM Climate Adaptation Fund, to enable seven CCRIF members to increase their coverage and make their national social protection systems more shock responsive.
Annual Report 2022/23

Annual Report 2022/23

The policy year 2022/23 represented 16 years of CCRIF providing catastrophe risk insurance to the Caribbean and 7 years to Central America.  CCRIF continue to provide access to quick liquidity following natural disasters, scaling up access to parametric insurance for new perils and new economic sectors.

Key Feature: CCRIF Makes Payouts totalling US$4.9 Million during the 2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season

Key Feature: CCRIF Makes Payouts totalling US$4.9 Million during the 2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season

CCRIF SPC made three payouts totalling US$4.9 million to the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands and St. Kitts and Nevis following Tropical Storm Philippe in October and Tropical Cyclone Tammy in November. CCRIF made payouts on these countries’ parametric insurance policies for Excess Rainfall as follows:

  • Antigua and Barbuda: US$2,880,424
  • British Virgin Islands: US$552,297 – this was the BVI’s first payout from CCRIF.
  • St. Kitts and Nevis: US$1,509,804

The work and impact of CCRIF in the Caribbean and Central America (Revised - August 2024)

The work and impact of CCRIF in the Caribbean and Central America (Revised: August 2024)

Key Milestones (YouTube Video)

CCRIF SPC Journey Through the Years to 2017

My Name is Risk

My Name is Risk

What Stakeholders Are Saying