PCRIC: A Catalyst for Mobilizing Essential Financial Resources for Regional Resilience
In an historic occasion for the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Company (PCRIC), the CEO, Mr. Aholotu Palu, represented the company at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 2023 meeting in New York.
Participating as a panel member addressing the theme “Frontline Leaders: How to drive resources to island states leading the way” Mr. Palu offered insights into PCRIC’s background and emphasised the distinctive features of parametric insurance, which include the swiftness and scale of payouts once a disaster occurs.
He also highlighted the growing relevance of PCRIC in the Pacific region, given the shifting dynamics of disasters in terms of increasing frequency and intensity. PCRIC’s origins and corporate foundations ensure a great capability to quickly adapt, offering flexibility and scalability in response to changing circumstances throughout the region. This included ensuring appropriate alignment of product design with each country’s unique risk profile.
Mr. Palu concluded by expressing two constant concerns in his role: the possibility of a disaster occurring with no resulting payout due to agreed policy parameters; and the challenge for small island nations of premium affordability. He stressed that the Pacific Islands region has limited fiscal capacity to mitigate the impact, yet it bears an unfair burden of climate change risk. He urged the global north to channel financial resources through PCRIC to help subsidise the escalating premium costs to ensure disaster resilience.
Pleased to have PCRIC again represented at this year’s CGI event, there is keen interest in advocating for tangible progress on the issues highlighted in 2023, and advancing PCRIC’s strong interest in partnering with CGI to develop a Commitment to Action focused on capacity building and delivering climate-resilient solutions for the Pacific region.
