World Bank’s Caribbean cat bond closes

More details have emerged of the catastrophe bond that has been issued by the World Bank on behalf of the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF).

The $30 million bond was issued by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, a member institution of the World Bank Group.

The bond provides three years of annual aggregate protection for hurricane and earthquakes affecting 16 Caribbean countries participating in the CCRIF. It uses a parametric trigger.

GC Securities served as the sole placement agent of the notes and co-structuring agent on behalf of CCRIF.

Aidan Pope, chief executive officer of Latin America & Caribbean operations at GC Securities, said: “We are honoured to be entrusted by the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility for their first cat bond and by the World Bank for the first issuance using their newly created Capital-at-Risk Notes Program. This transaction represents an important milestone for the CCRIF and the Caribbean market more broadly. By utilising this cat bond to tap into the capital markets, CCRIF is able to develop new counterparty relationships and secure highly rated multi-year capacity at a fixed price that provides greater stability for its risk transfer programme.”

David Priebe, vice chairman of Guy Carpenter, said: “In the post-convergence market, capital markets capacity continues to offer an attractively priced and effective complement to the reinsurance market. GC Securities, Guy Carpenter, and the other operating companies of Marsh & McLennan Companies, are highly committed to the strategic development of public-private partnerships to increase the availability of insurance and reinsurance worldwide by innovating new solutions such as the CCRIF and World Bank cat bond.”