CCRIF Enters Pact with Central American Risk Management Agency

CCRIF SPC and CEPREDENAC, Central America's regional risk management agency, have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) intended to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and best practices around addressing natural disasters.

CEPREDENAC (the Coordination Center for the Prevention of Disasters in Central America and the Dominican Republic) is a specialized institution focused on natural disaster prevention, mitigation, and response. The governments of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Dominican Republic are active members, while Belize is in the process of becoming a member.

"We are pleased to formalize this partnership between CCRIF and CEPREDENAC, which will facilitate South-South cooperation and be a bridge for the Caribbean and Central America," Isaac Anthony, CCRIF's CEO, said in a statement. "It will encourage us to share knowledge, lessons learned, and good practices and, more importantly, will be a key conduit to enable the two regions to work together on solutions to common challenges that they face as they seek to financially protect their economies, peoples, and communities from the impacts of natural hazards."

CCRIF has MOUs with 14 organizations in the Caribbean. In 2015, CCRIF signed an MOU with the Council of Finance Ministers of Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic (COSEFIN), which enabled Central American countries to join CCRIF and gain access to its parametric insurance products for tropical cyclones, earthquakes, and excess rainfall. Currently, three Central American countries are members of CCRIF: Nicaragua, Panama, and Guatemala.

Previously known as the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility Segregated Portfolio Company, CCRIF SPC is a segregated portfolio company that is owned, operated, and registered in the Caribbean. It limits the financial impact of such disasters as catastrophic hurricanes, earthquakes, and excess rainfall events on Caribbean and Central American governments by quickly providing short-term liquidity when a parametric insurance policy is triggered.

CCRIF's parametric insurance was specifically designed to cover high-intensity, low-frequency events and provide quick liquidity within 14 days of an event if a policy is triggered.

CCRIF SPC was developed under the technical leadership of the World Bank and with a grant from the government of Japan. It was capitalized through contributions to a multidonor trust fund by the government of Canada, the European Union, the World Bank, the governments of the United Kingdom and France, the Caribbean Development Bank, and the governments of Ireland and Bermuda, as well as through membership fees paid by participating governments.

Since its inception in 2007, CCRIF has made 58 payouts totaling $260 million to 16 of its 22 member governments.