The Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility

2016 September: In June of this year the Cook Islands passed the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility Act 2016 (the “Act”). The Act sees the formalising of many years of effort by several organisations, including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, as well as certain Pacific Island states, to provide Pacific Island states with direct support to finance immediate disaster relief and advisory services on the financial management of natural disasters.

Tamatoa Jonassen, CEO of the Cook Islands Financial Services Development Authority, has an article published in the latest edition of Captive Insurance Times detailing the background to and the purpose and framework of the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (the “Facility”). A link to the publication is available here.

The choice of establishing and administering the Facility in the Cook Islands is a testament to the jurisdiction's strong legal and regulatory framework as well as the quality of its professional service providers. The World Bank and other stake holders have the confidence in the Cook Islands to deliver a first class insurance structure providing essential financial support to Pacific Island states vulnerable to climactic and other natural disasters and catastrophes.