ICMIF member African Risk Capacity Limited (ARC Ltd, South Africa) has appointed one of ICMIF’s Supporting Members, Gallagher Re, the global reinsurance broking and advisory firm, as its reinsurance broker and risk advisor. ARC Ltd is a specialist insurance company which provides parametric insurance cover to African countries against climate and disaster risk.
Speaking about the appointment, Gallagher Re said it includes the placement of portfolio cover in the reinsurance and capital markets, and the provision of strategic advisory for sustainable growth and portfolio diversification. The design of alternative risk transfer mechanisms, such as insurance linked securities (ILS), is a core component of targeted development plans.
With African countries bearing the brunt of climate change, in the context of high population growth and urbanisation rates – and the threat of global, interconnected shocks further jeopardising hard-won development gains and livelihoods on the continent – ARC Ltd has ambitious growth plans which foresee combined use of traditional and alternative capacity providers as part of a unique risk carrier structure that aims to leverage the private sector for a wide range of resilience applications across Africa.
Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding last November, on the sidelines of COP27, between ARC Ltd, CCRIF SPC (formerly the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility) and the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Company (PCRIC) – and as lead and sole broker to all three developmental insurance risk pools – Gallagher Re said it is now uniquely placed to support the goals of the MoU which is to raise their global visibility, reach and influence.
Speaking about the agreement, Malvern Chirume, Chief Underwriting Officer of ARC Ltd, said: “The emergence of new risks and the high degree of global interconnectedness offer a unique opportunity to rethink our approach to climate and systemic events on the African continent. ARC Group plays a critical role in this environment, strengthening the capacity of member states to minimise the risk and actual impact from these events, and providing targeted and swift access to finance, tools and products in the aftermath of disasters. To date, ARC Ltd has provided financial protection in excess of USD 1 billion to 19 countries. We aim to reduce the protection gap even further and our partnership with Gallagher Re will be a key element of our growth.”
Antoine Bavandi, Global Head of Public Sector, Parametric & Climate Resilience Solutions at Gallagher Re, commented: “We are deeply honoured to be selected by ARC Ltd to support its critical mission of promoting resilience solutions across Africa. We feel passionate about ARC, what it stands for and the actual impact it is making on livelihoods on the ground. ARC Ltd’s mission in particular resonates extremely well with our vision for climate resilience by leveraging traditional markets as well as ILS and ESG capital to support African Union countries with the most efficient risk solutions. We very much look forward to applying our expertise for the benefits of public and private sector clients, to continue to push for scaled-up resilience solutions.”
As a valued Supporting Member of ICMIF, Gallagher Re will be present at the forthcoming ICMIF Meeting of Reinsurance Officials (MORO) in Des Moines (USA) from 6-8 June 2023.
Joshua Knapp, Executive Vice President, Gallagher Re (USA) will participate in the high-level panel discussion in the Current state of the reinsurance market session. This panel will examine the latest hot topics in the reinsurance market and the factors behind the recent challenging reinsurance renewals.
Steven Bowen, Chief Science Officer, Gallagher Re (USA) will take part in a session on Climate, claims and catastrophe modelling in which panellists will share insights on the ways in which climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of natural disasters, and how this is affecting the (re)insurance industry. The session will include latest updates in catastrophe modelling, as well as the emerging threat of secondary perils.
Finally, Andrew Johnston, Global Head of Insurtech, will join the session on innovation and insurtech in which insights and case studies will be shared looking at how technology is transforming the insurance landscape and creating new business models for insurers to engage with customers and manage risk more effectively.
