CINICO moves into property insurance
(CNS): The government-owned Cayman Islands National Insurance Company, which in March announced that it had extended its offerings to include motor insurance, has now moved into the home insurance business. CINICO is offering parametric insurance to homeowners, either as part of its basic package or as a separate policy.
In a press release, CINICO explained that its parametric Insurance coverage automatically pays out pre-agreed amounts to cover incidental expenses without the need to submit a claim in the event of a hurricane that is Category 3 or above and passes within a specified distance from the Cayman Islands.
This means that after such a storm has passed, homeowners can receive a payment, typically within 14 to 21 days, to help with expenses not normally covered by insurance, such as additional groceries, securing the premises, and cleanup expenses, whether the home is damaged or not.
This new offering from CINICO and the motor insurance are the outcomes of CINICO’s broader expansion plan announced in 2022, which aims to ensure that Cayman Islands homeowners and residents have access to sufficient insurance capacity and coverage in an increasingly vulnerable insurance market.
“We are thrilled to offer home insurance and include Parametric coverage as a standard feature for new policies,” CINICO CEO Michael Gayle. “Outside of the Cayman Islands, parametric insurance cover is sometimes available to home insurance policy owners at an additional cost. However, this benefit will be included for the first time in Cayman as a standard feature of CINICO’s home insurance policies.”
CINICO’s parametric coverage is part of its home insurance package but is also available as a separate stand-alone policy for homeowners with existing home insurance policies, whether insured with CINICO or not, and can be used to offset the impact of policy deductibles.
Gayle is on the Board of the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF SPC), which provides Parametric coverage to many Caribbean and Central American governments and will pay out more than US$80 million to countries affected by Hurricane Beryl, all within 14 days after passing of the hurricane.
“CINICO is raising the bar in the insurance industry, and fulfilling our promise to bring innovation to the insurance industry,” he said. “Providing Cayman Islands homeowners with reliable and timely support, especially in the face of hurricanes, helps achieve that goal. By including parametric insurance coverage as a standard feature, CINICO ensures that homeowners have access to swift, reliable support when they need it most.”
He also noted that CINICO’s venture into homeowners insurance fulfils its mission as the government-owned insurance company to ensure a resilient insurance sector.
“Reinsurance restrictions have imposed limits on the number of policies that we can issue for the balance of this year, particularly in the face of a potentially active hurricane season,” Gayle explained. “We expect our parametric product to be a successful addition to the insurance market and anticipate having to seek additional capacity in 2025 to meet the demand. Innovation is critical to the resilience of the insurance sector in Cayman and we will continue to look for more ways to improve products and benefits.”
Premier and Finance Minister Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, who holds responsibility for CINICO, welcomes this new advancement in the Cayman Islands insurance market. “A strong and stable insurance industry is vital for the resilience of our islands,” she said. “The inclusion of parametric coverage as a standard feature in CINICO’s new home insurance policy demonstrates a significant step forward in ensuring our residents are well-protected.”
Find out more about the new motor and home insurance policies here,
or call 345-949-8101 or email property@cinico.ky.
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On paper it sounds good. But the proof will come the day that there are major claims from such disasters as Hurricane, earthquakes and fires.
Where are the guarantees that they will have the ability to pay? As usual a dangling carrot for their supporters to chew on leading up to the general elections.
Government has no business in the property insurance business. It should concentrate on properly regulating those firms already operating locally.
I’ll be looking into this quite seriously. My home insurance has doubled in the last 18 months. Our brokers simply shrug their shoulders, there is no creativity from them to come up with alternate insurance/risk profile options. This should serve as a wake-up call to them.
That office of theirs isn’t fit for purpose and they still only accept paper claims. They need to get up to date with technology before they expand their insurance offerings. This will be a disaster and they won’t be able to keep up!
Most people don’t understand basic insurance. How the hell does CINICO expect them to understand parametric coverage.
This isn’t going to end well for CINICO, their customers or the government.
Surely it is 100% reinsured?
Instead of dabbling in property and other insurance, why won’t they expand health insurance to cover everyone. At least, to cover retired seniors. Health insurance rates are astronomical for anyone not in a group.
This is an excellent addition to the undisclosed and unreported liabilities of CIG. Been hovering at the $2,000,000,000 mark for way too long now.
i’ve got a bad feeling about this….
This government administration seems hell bent on digging its hole deeper. Accepting considerably more risk and liability by dabbling in the property insurance sector is like steaming into the eye of the storm bound and blindfolded. What could possibly go wrong. Pure and utter idiocy!
now if we can only sort out insurance for the strata organisations thousands more homeowners will appreciate not get ripped off so much. Perhaps JOCC can look into that for us
I hope its feckin affordable! I am grossly under insured as I simply can’t afford to be properly covered. They current insurance rates are shocking.
Would love to know what percentage of the very costly premiums, goes towards actual benefit to the insured, and what percentage goes to fancy offices, and Director/shareholder pockets.
Let’s hope they will offer some competition for the established insurance providers whose main aim is to keep their directors overpaid and over fed.