PCRIC & WTW renew disaster risk insurance cover for Pacific region

The Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Company (PCRIC), in collaboration with the global advisory, broking, and solutions company WTW, has renewed its portfolio of policies for governments and government-affiliated entities in Pacific Island countries and territories, along with the associated reinsurance placement.

PCRIC is a regional catastrophe insurance facility that provides its products in parametric form. Its aim is to help nations better prepare, structure and manage finances to foster disaster resilience and ensure rapid access to funds when they are needed.

For 2024 and 2025, PCRIC now provides insurance for tropical cyclones, heavy rain, earthquake, and tsunami risk to six Pacific governments, namely the Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Tonga, Samoa, and Vanuatu.

It additionally provides cover for the state-owned telecommunications company, PNG DataCo, in Papua New Guinea, and the Vatuvara Foundation in Fiji.

PCRIC reportedly developed the new policy designs with support from WTW’s Disaster Risk Finance (DRF) and Alternative Risk Transfer (ART) teams.

“With climate change intensifying natural hazard events in the region, PCRIC’s insurance tools will provide critical protection for people, governments, economic assets and essential infrastructure services, as well as coral reefs for the year ahead,” PCRIC said.

Aholotu Palu, PCRIC CEO, commented, “The successful renewal confirms PCRIC’s strategy to offer tailor-made and understandable financial protection products to Pacific Island Countries.

“PCRIC addresses an important market gap in the Pacific region and offers governments, including state-owned enterprises which provide essential services, access to insurance solutions that would otherwise not be available.”

Simon Young, Senior Director, Disaster Risk Finance at WTW, added, “The new approach underpinning PCRIC’s products is now more people-centred and tailored to on-the-ground conditions.

“The simplified parametric structures also bring greater transparency to the analytics and improved confidence in the modelling and perceived climate change impacts.

“These significant improvements have contributed to cheaper reinsurance from more markets, allowing governments to more cost-effectively manage disaster risk with the support of PCRIC.”

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