CCRIF's microinsurance policy to provide wind and rainfall coverage

By Henry Gale

July 9 - (The Insurer) - CCRIF SPC's new microinsurance facility, which is supported by technology from CelsiusPro, will initially offer a parametric cover for tropical-storm-force winds and excess rainfall, the regional risk pool said on Tuesday.

CCRIF CEO Isaac Anthony had announced the digital microinsurance platform at the Natural Disaster Fund (NDF) event in London on June 27. He said its first product would be a "livelihood protection policy" (LPP).

Now CCRIF has explained that the LPP is a parametric cover for wind associated with tropical storms and hurricanes and rainfall that occurs any time during the year.

It is intended to cover small farmers, fishers, market vendors, day labourers, construction workers, tourism workers and small business owners, among others.

It will initially be piloted in Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.

Anthony said at the NDF event that CCRIF would not be underwriting the risks. "We are playing a facilitating role in the region where we are going to be working with the domestic insurance market."

He added: "We will bring the local context, the experience, the brand, the local insurance partners to the market. We have a very well-established relationship in the region with our governments."

CCRIF has also said the initiative is being supported with a grant from the NDF, a public-private partnership that includes a risk capital pool and a facility to fund technical assistance in bringing parametric covers for vulnerable communities to market.