The Bahamas government is in talks with the CCRIF SPC (formerly the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility) to split The Bahamas into three regions in order to get the most out of the country's tropical cyclone insurance.
Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest told Guardian Business that his government is exploring splitting The Bahamas into three zones - the southern, central and northern Bahamas - and paying a different premium to the CCRIF SPC insurance scheme for each zone.
The Bahamas has missed out on receiving payments from the CCRIF SPC in the past due to certain factors not being in place after the passage of a storm that would trigger an insurance payout. But the government was recently convinced by the CCRIF SPC that had the previous government not pulled out of the scheme during its term, The Bahamas would have received a payout amounting to about $32 million, which would have been the single largest payout to a country from the CCRIF.
Turnquest said the terms under which the country receives its tropical cyclone insurance- given the archipelagic nature of this country - often precludes it from receiving payouts following a natural disaster.
The country pays a $900,000 premium to insure the islands of The Bahamas against a tropical cyclone, but a hurricane strike like Irma in the southern Bahamas would not trigger payouts by the CCRIF SPC because certain criteria may not have been met - despite the devastation caused by the storm.
On Tuesday the CCRIF SPC revealed that due to Hurricane Irma it was initializing payouts of approximately US$29.6 million, with The Bahamas receiving $234,000 of that amount. Turnquest said this money will be added to the consolidated fund, then turned over to NEMA for its hurricane relief efforts.
A release from CCRIF SPC yesterday explained that the insurance scheme shelled out payouts to the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, St. Kitts and Nevis, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Haiti and The Bahamas "on their tropical cyclone insurance (TC) policies that they hold with CCRIF SPC".
The insurance facility explained though that the calculations for Haiti and The Bahamas were not made based on the impact of Irma, but on the aggregate deductible cover (ADC), "a new policy feature for its members". Haiti received $162,000 from the scheme.
"The ADC represents a means by which CCRIF SPC can help its members when modelled losses fall below the attachment point, but where there are observed losses on the ground," the CCRIF SPC's release stated.
It is expected that these payments for the six countries will be received by the countries "within 14 days of the event as mandated by CCRIF SPC's operational guidelines".
"CCRIF SPC continues to assess if any excess rainfall (XSR) policies of its member countries were triggered by the rains from Hurricane Irma," CCRIF SPC stated.
"Countries may possibly receive a second payment under their XSR policies. The assessment for XSR policies takes a few days longer than the assessment for TC policies, which are based on wind and storm surge."
According to Prime Minster Dr. Hubert Minnis, The Bahamas "paid up" its CCRIF SPC premium after the previous administration discontinued this country's relationship with the insurance scheme.
Former Prime Minister Perry Christie said his adminstration withdrew from the insurance scheme after the entity denied a claim on this country's damage following two devastating hurricanes in two years.

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