CCRIF launches microinsurance initiative with CelsiusPro & Global Parametrics

CCRIF SPC, formerly the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility, has partnered with CelsiusPro and its subsidiary Global Parametrics to launch a new initiative, the CCRIF Microinsurance Facility, which includes a digital insurance administration tool known as the White Label Platform.

According to the CCRIF, this platform will enable multiple insurance companies to partner with it in offering and managing microinsurance products for both new and existing customers.

The initiative is being supported by a grant from the Natural Disaster Fund (NDF), a blended risk transfer vehicle designed to strengthen climate and natural catastrophe resilience in low-and middle-income countries.

The NDF is funded by the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Germany’s development bank KfW, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

CCRIF CEO Isaac Anthony emphasised the organisation’s capacity to expand microinsurance coverage, building on nearly two decades of experience providing parametric insurance in the region.

“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 stated.

CelsiusPro CEO Mark Rueegg added, “We are grateful for the support of the NDF 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.”

CCRIF has revealed that the first product to be offered by the Microinsurance Facility through the CelsiusPro White Label Platform would be the Livelihood Protection Policy (LPP), which is a parametric weather index-based insurance product.

“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 explained.

The LPP targets a wide range of at-risk populations, including small farmers, fishers, market and food vendors, day labourers, construction and tourism workers, and owners of micro and small businesses.

Powered by CCRIF’s parametric models, tailored specifically for the Caribbean and Central America, the LPP aims to address the regional protection gap.

CCRIF continued, “Not only will it play a key role in closing the protection gap, but for low-income groups, it will provide some level of financial stability 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 creditworthiness of individuals in the long term, giving them access to financial services that they previously may not have had access to.”

“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.”

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

This website states: The content on this site is sourced from the internet. If there is any infringement, please contact us and we will handle it promptly.