Willis brokers capacity for first African catastrophe insurance pool

Willis Group Holdings plc has secured USD55 million of index- based reinsurance capacity from the international weather risk markets for Africa’s first ever catastrophe insurance pool, Africa Risk Capacity Insurance Company Ltd.

ARC Ltd, a Bermuda based mutual insurance company, has been set up to issue insurance policies against drought to an initial group of five African countries: Kenya, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger and Senegal. It will allow member countries to respond quickly to a developing crisis, and rely less on uncertain international aid in times of drought. Teams from both Willis Re and Willis’s global weather risks practice were involved in shaping the structure of ARC Ltd’s reinsurance programme.

Julian Roberts, executive director of Willis’s global weather risks practice, commented: “A mechanism such as ARC Ltd demonstrates the very best of what can be achieved when governments and the re/insurance sector work together, and has the potential to increase the resilience of African countries to the climatic challenges which they face.”