SEADRIF makes over $1 million in payouts to Lao PDR and WFP under parametric policies

The Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Insurance Facility (SEADRIF Insurance Company) has made payouts of USD 1.14 million to the Government of Lao PDR and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), after heavy rainfall and widespread flooding triggered both Lao PDR’s two-year parametric sovereign policy and WFP’s 2026 disaster resilience policy.

Prolonged southwest monsoon conditions and active low-pressure systems saw more than 260,000 people impacted by heavy rainfall and widespread flooding across Lao PDR, surpassing the 200,000-person mark reported by the Lao PDR National Disaster Management Office (NDMO), which triggered a first payout threshold under both SEADRIF policies.

The figures were verified by reinsurance broker Gallagher Re, the calculation agent which also structured and placed the Lao PDR parametric re/insurance programme on behalf of SEADRIF. Following verification, SEADRIF paid out USD 1 million to the Government of Lao PDR, under its USD 8 million annual coverage, and USD 137,500 to WFP, under its USD 1.1 million policy.

Importantly for the region, these payouts were made in five business days following the rainfall and widespread flooding since late June, again highlighting the benefit of parametric risk transfer solutions.

Lao PDR’s two-year parametric policy was established on May 3, 2025 and provides up to $16 million in aggregate parametric protection. As we reported previously, the policy’s payout triggering mechanism is based on actual, reported loss information aggregated at the national level, making it one of the first in the world to use a government-reported impact-based trigger.

The SEADRIF and WFP parametric insurance policy in Lao PDR was announced in May of this year, and provides pre-arranged financing of up to USD 1.1 million, enabling timely support to communities impacted by extreme weather and other natural hazards.

This policy complements the government’s existing sovereign policy as climate shocks across Lao PDR are increasing the frequency and severity of floods, droughts, and storms. Payouts finance WFP’s response operations and are deployed in coordination with the government through a jointly agreed response plan, explains SEADRIF.

Benedikt Signer, CEO of SEADRIF, commented, “Heavy rainfall and flooding have affected hundreds of thousands of people in Lao PDR, putting families, livelihoods and essential services under pressure. These payouts reflect what both policies were designed to do: timely and effective support through pre-arranged financing with payout triggers that are directly aligned to actual disaster impacts. SEADRIF will continue to coordinate closely with the Government of Lao PDR, WFP and our partners as the situation develops.”

SEADRIF says that it will continue to monitor the cumulative impact of flooding and heavy rainfall across Lao PDR, and is ready to respond should further official NDMO data cross additional trigger thresholds.