Africa Re, Gallagher Re, join forces against climate, crisis, disaster risks

BY Business.a.m.

Africa Re, the leading pan-African reinsurer, and Gallagher Re, the global reinsurance broking and advisory firm, plan to unveil a new partnership that would see them join forces to strengthen the financial resilience of African countries against a broad range of climate, crisis and disaster risks.

They are expected to present details of their plans July 26 in Cairo, Egypt, during a high-level event on the side of Africa Re’s General Assembly.

The event will be held under the theme, “Private-Public Catastrophe Risk Transfer Schemes: Bringing Resilience to Scale”, and it will bring together Africa Re’s shareholders from 42 African member states and financial institutions, to explore and discuss the countries’ priorities and implementation options.

The partnership initiative between the two companies is already named, “Accelerating action through scalable risk transfer schemes”, and it aims to offer a robust, replicable, and modular framework to address a wide range of threats while protecting both assets and liabilities. The initiative is understood to consist of a comprehensive toolkit of innovative analytics, regulatory and policy advice, and financial optimisation services, and that it brings together public and private sectors to deliver customised, at-scale financial resilience solutions across Africa.

According to explanatory notes, the support it offers is highly customised to countries’ needs and priorities, and it will focus on existing resources and domestic capacity, complemented where most relevant with third-party capital; adding that solutions developed would include risk transfer solutions to financing emergency response costs in the aftermath of a crisis, national insurance schemes for agriculture and crop, as well as weather derivatives and parametric products for public infrastructure, energy or tourism sectors.
The initiative is believed to be driven by observed regional drought conditions and the global political environment (especially with Africa seen to be heavily reliant on wheat imports from Russia and Ukraine) which require prompt action and at-scale implementation plans.

The partnership between Africa Re and Gallagher Re’s Public Sector & Climate Resilience Solutions global practice is seen as representing an important stepping-stone towards sustainable economic growth and better-protected livelihoods in Africa.

Corneille Karekezi, group managing director and chief executive officer, Africa Re, said, “Africa is already bearing the brunt of climate change – and the threat of global, interconnected shocks further jeopardises hard-won development gains and livelihoods on the continent. In line with our 2022-2025 strategy, this ambitious initiative aims to leverage private-sector and government expertise and capabilities for improved resilience and financial protection. It will also contribute to re-positioning Africa Re as the risk transformer of the African continent’s systemic risks.”

Antoine Bavandi, global head, public sector, parametric and climate resilience solutions, Gallagher Re, added, “We will be putting to work our expertise in various domains to come up with the most practical and cost-efficient solutions to various risks, exposures, and country contexts. We look forward to laying out together the various building blocks of societal and financial resilience against drought, food insecurity and emerging risks in Africa with a deep sense of urgency.”

Natalie Van de Coolwijk, regional director, Middle East & Africa at Gallagher Re, said, “It is important that this project is designed and driven by Africans for Africans, hence why Africa Re is central to its success. They not only have a vested social interest, but also a fundamental understanding of the challenges facing the continent and its citizens.”