CCRIF partners with CelsiusPro and Global Parametrics to launch microinsurance initiative

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The CCRIF SPC (formerly the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility), in collaboration with CelsiusPro and its subsidiary Global Parametrics, has launched the CCRIF Microinsurance Facility, along with the underlying digital insurance administrative platform solution, the White Label Platform.

According to the announcement, this platform will facilitate the administration of microinsurance products, (such as product pricing, risk capacity management, policy management and settlement of claims), enabling multiple insurers to partner with CCRIF to roll out and market microinsurance products to new and existing customers.

This initiative is being supported with a grant from the Natural Disaster Fund (NDF), which is a blended risk transfer vehicle designed to mitigate the challenges in climate and natural catastrophes resilience for low-and-middle-income countries.

CCRIF Chief Executive Officer Isaac Anthony stated that the company is well positioned to provide a platform to scale up microinsurance offerings in the countries that it has provided parametric insurance coverage to for over the last 18 years.

The organisation provides coverage to 30 members in the Caribbean and Central America.

Since its inception in 2007, CCRIF has made 78 payouts totalling US$390 million. CCRIF today also has seven parametric insurance products for tropical cyclones, excess rainfall, fluvial flooding, earthquakes, and for the electric, water and fisheries sectors.

“The CCRIF Microinsurance Facility will bring microinsurance or inclusive insurance into the hands of millions of persons across the Caribbean (and later on to Central America), thereby protecting lives and livelihoods in the face of the increasing frequency, intensity and unpredictability of hydrometeorological events associated with climate change that are bringing many hardships to low-income groups,” Anthony said.

Mark Rueegg, CEO of CelsiusPro, commented: “We are grateful for the support of the Natural Disaster Fund to equip CCRIF and their partners with CelsiusPro’s advanced parametric insurance technology. Our White Label Platform will help build an insurance ecosystem that reaches vulnerable communities across all CCRIF member countries.”

According to CCRIF, the first product that is set to be offered by the Microinsurance Facility through the CelsiusPro White Label Platform is the Livelihood Protection Policy (LPP), a parametric weather index-based insurance product that reportedly offers insurance coverage for wind associated with tropical storms and hurricanes, and rainfall that occurs any time during the year.

CCRIF confirmed that the Livelihood Protection Policy will initially be rolled out in five countries: Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad & Tobago.

“It is designed to protect the livelihoods of vulnerable, low-income individuals by providing quick cash payouts following extreme weather events. Payouts are tied to a series of thresholds for wind speed and rainfall and can therefore be made very quickly (within 14 days as is customary for CCRIF’s other parametric insurance policies), as there is no need to undertake on-the-ground damage or impact assessments,” CCRIF noted.

The LPP is designed to support small farmers, fishers, market vendors, food vendors, day labourers, construction workers, tourism workers, along with owners of micro and small businesses.

This current version of the LPP is underpinned by CCRIF’s state-of-the-art parametric insurance models, which are specifically customised for the Caribbean and Central America.

“Payouts under the LPP will help persons to get their “livelihood” back on track without them having to wait for help from “external” sources such as the Government, friends, family, or from remittances etc. For example, if a farmer purchases the LPP, he or she will have a source of immediate funding to undertake activities such as draining fields, replanting, and reconstructing irrigation systems if the insurance policy triggers,” CCRIF explained.

CCRIF also noted that the LPP will not only just play a key role towards closing the protection gap, but it will also provide a level of financial stability for low-income groups through the injection of quick liquidity or cash payouts, allowing them to avoid adopting coping strategies that could lead them into poverty.

“The LPP will also help to improve the credit worthiness of individuals in the long term, giving them access to financial services that they previously may not have had access to,” CCRIF added.

“The LPP will also play a key role in supporting governments’ policy goals related to financial inclusion – enabling underserved persons to participate in the financial system and over time benefit from the various services that the financial sector provides,” CCRIF concluded.

CCRIF partners with CelsiusPro and Global Parametrics to launch microinsurance initiative was published by: www.Artemis.bm
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