GIC Re to create natural catastrophe pool
General Insurance Corporation (GIC Re), the state-owned national reinsurance company, is in the process of setting up a natural catastrophe pool for insurance and reinsurance companies in Africa and Asia, a top company official said here.
GIC Re has been entrusted with the task of creating the pool, to be called 'FAIR Natural Catastrophe Pool', by a voluntary industry organisation, Federation of Afro-Asian Insurers and Reinsurers (FAIR).
"We have been given the responsibility to create and manage the pool for members of FAIR. Our job will be to organise and do the entire set-up exercise for the pool," GIC Re General Manager R Raghavan told reporters here.
The fund (pool) would be available to members in the event of catastrophe such as earthquakes, Tsunami and volcanic eruptions, among others, that have a sizable impact on the economy or on the insurance market, state-owned GIC Re's Raghavan said.
GIC Re will start operating the pool in the next nine to 12 months, he added. "The initial concept is in place but it will take another 9-12 months for the pool to effectively start operations as capacity provider. We will able to offer capacity in January 2011," Raghavan said.
"We will now approach FAIR members to bring in the exact monetary capacity," Raghavan said adding the size of the pool would be determined by the number of members joining it. FAIR has 194 members from Asia and Africa. GIC Re was appointed manager of the pool by FAIR's General Council at a conference recently held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
