Burchell Whiteman, High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, accepted the insurance award on behalf of CCRIF. - File

The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility, which provides coverage for hurricane and earthquake damage to regional governments, has taken home the industry prize this year for innovation.

The multi-nation catastrophe risk fund, operational since June 2007, is the first and only one of its kind.

CCRIF won the Re/Insurance Initiative of the Year award, presented in London at The Review Worldwide Reinsurance Awards, and accepted by His Excellency the Honourable Burchell Whiteman, Jamaica's top diplomat in the United Kingdom.

Proactive plans

"I am pleased to accept the award for Re/Insurance Initiative of the Year on behalf of the Caribbean governments that currently participate in the CCRIF and are leading the pack in developing insurance tools to proactively manage catastrophic risk," said Whiteman, naming all 16 policyholders.

"The CCRIF is a reflection of the commitment its member governments have to limiting their financial exposure to the perils of hurricanes and earthquakes, using the facility to pool their risk and provide a source of immediate liquidity after a catastrophic event."

The participating governments are Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The Review, a reinsurance magazine, has hosted the initiative awards for 15 years.