December 5, 2008 - London, England, The awards keep pouring in for the CCRIF.

At the Insurance Day London Market Awards 2008 held on December 4, the world’s first and only multi-nation catastrophe risk fund, the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility, was named Transaction of the Year. This award comes hot on the heels of the CCRIF receiving the honour of Re/Insurance Initiative of the Year at the 2008 Review Worldwide Reinsurance Awards.

Accepting the award on behalf of the facility was Nick Moss from Aon Benfield – the CCRIF’s reinsurance broker.

Dominic Christian, Chief Executive Officer of Aon Benfield International said that the transaction 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 utilized innovative means to launch a well needed product,” he added. “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,” Simon Young, CEO of CaribRM, Facility Supervisor said.

About the CCRIF: The CCRIF is 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.

Sixteen countries are currently members of the fund: Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago and the Turks and Caicos Islands. In September the CCRIF paid out approximately US$6.3M to the government of the Turks and Caicos Islands in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. For more information: http: www.ccrif.org.