Isaac Anthony, CEO of CCRIF SPC, the regional parametric risk pool for the Caribbean and Central America, has announced that the organisation grew its coverage by 9% to US $1.57 billion, and introduced new members ahead of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season.
“Let me begin with what the science is telling us about this hurricane season. We are in the grip of a super El Nino cycle for the Caribbean and Central America. This means we face a high risk of severe droughts, prolonged heat waves and heightened food and water insecurity. On the hurricane front, climatologists project roughly five hurricanes this year, including two major hurricanes well below the typical annual average,” Anthony said.
“Some may hear quieter season and exhale with relief, but I want to be clear, a quieter season does not mean a safe season. It only takes one major storm to change the trajectory of a country, and paradoxically, even with fewer named storms, record warm regional waters can still cause sudden explosive rainfall and dangerous flash floods, even without a named storm making landfall.”
During the message, Anthony highlighted how CCRIF has grown its parametric risk pool and welcomed new members, ahead of the 2026 hurricane season.
“I am proud to share that our membership and coverage have grown entering this hurricane season. We welcome new members to the CCRIF family. Jamaica Public Service Company (GPS), the Nevis Electricity Company Limited, expanding our electric utilities portfolio in Jamaica and Nevis. We also welcome Jamaica’s decision to purchase the coast product, our parametric insurance solution for the fishery sector.
“This adds an entirely new layer of protection for Jamaica’s blue economy, its fishing communities, food security, and local economies.”
He continued: “Coverage has also increased this year to $1.57 billion, up from $1.44 billion in the last policy year. This represents a 9% increase in coverage. It reflects an increase of 17% coverage in our Caribbean portfolio, and an increase in coverage of 18% in our Central American portfolio.
“We are proud that our new micro insurance product, the Livelihood Protection Policy, is already reaching farmers, fishers, and valuable workers across Jamaica.”
The CEO also highlighted that since its establishment in 2007, CCRIF has made 82 individual payouts, totaling $483 million delivered every payout within 14 days.
“What moves me most in this period is not just CRIFF growth, but the posture of our members. They are actively scaling up the coverage. They are not waiting for the next disaster to ask what they should have done. They are acting now with foresight and financial discipline,” Anthony said.
“Let me take a moment to situate CCRIF within the broader architecture of disaster risk management. Financial protection is one of five pillars of comprehensive disaster risk management, alongside risk identification, risk reduction, preparedness, and recovery and reconstruction. Within the financial protection pillar, one of the most important lessons from recent events is that no single disaster risk financing instrument can meet all post disaster financing needs. This is why risk layering is essential,” the CEO continued.
Anthony emphasises that countries like Jamaica, Grenada, and Barbados demonstrate how layering of different risk transfer arrangements works in practice.
“CCRIF parametric insurance for rapid liquidity, catastrophe bonds for catastrophic layers, natural disaster clause for medium to high severity events, contingent credit for medium term needs, as well as reserve funds for frequent low severity events. CCRIF is not a replacement for these other instruments. We are one critical layer in a complementary ecosystem.”
The CEO highlighted how Jamaica’s response to last year’s hurricane Melissa demonstrates this effectively.
As we previously reported, the government of Jamaica received a US $91.9 million payout from CCRIF within 14 days of the event and then received another $150 million payout from its IBRD CAR Jamaica 2024 parametric catastrophe bond, as well as a further $300 million in contingent credit.
Furthermore, Anthony also explained that CCRIF is working to close the protection gap by expanding sectoral coverage and introducing new products, including a multi-peril agricultural product that includes drought, a housing product, and one for anticipatory action.
To close, the CEO looked ahead and shared that CCRIF is advancing its strategic plan for 2025 to 2030, which he refers to as the company’s most ambitious plan to date.
“Guided by this plan, we will expand parametric insurance coverage to social and economic sectors, scale parametric insurance to reach millions of low-income individuals and households, leverage artificial intelligence to enhance catastrophe risk modeling, develop public-private partnership to close the protection gap at speed and scale, and explore other instruments such as insurance-linked loans.
“This is indeed a bold agenda. It reflects our unwavering belief that the Caribbean and Central America can become the world’s most climate resilient regions,” Anthony said.
