CCRIF pays out over $32m since launch, expects 2011 renewals to be flat

The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), the non-profit multi-country risk pool for the Caribbean, has since its launch in 2007 paid out $32,179,470 to its members after disasters struck. The facility counts sixteen Caribbean countries as members and seven of those members have received a payout in the four years the facility has operated (2007-2010).

In their latest quarterly newsletter, the CCRIF says that eight of their policies have been triggered over the last four seasons with payouts going to 7 member countries. Of the eight policies affected, three were for earthquakes in the region and five for hurricanes. St Lucia was the country which received two payouts, one for an earthquake in 2007 and the other for damage sustained during Hurricane Tomas in the 2010 season.

Now approaching its fifth hurricane season and with policy renewals due by the 1st June (in time for the hurricane season), the process of renewal has already begun. The CCRIF expects that policy rates will remain close to those paid for the previous season. Last year members increased their earthquake cover at renewal time, it’s possible this trend could continue given the recent spate of global quake disasters.

The newsletter states that the long-awaited rainfall product from the CCRIF will be made available during the 2011-2012 season for some CARICOM members who will be notified of this during the renewals process. We expect the rainfall product to be well received as member countries have needed a policy which provides some protection for storms which don’t reach wind speeds powerful enough to trigger their CCRIF hurricane coverage. It’s likely to be an index-based rainfall product which requires weather monitoring equipment to measure volume of rain.