ZURICH, 22 November 2023 – CelsiusPro Group and Tower, a New Zealand-based insurer, have signed a partnership to upgrade Tower’s IT platform for its Cyclone Response Cover, a parametric insurance product designed to provide policyholders in the Pacific with a rapid cash payout when their house, or other insured location, is impacted by a high wind-speed cyclone event, regardless of damage.

The partnership will capitalize on CelsiusPro’s award-winning White Label Platform (WLP) solution to develop a bespoke distribution platform for Cyclone Response Cover. The platform will provide Tower customers with features such as an online premium calculator, monitoring and settlement, mobile capabilities, and offer and policy generation.

Mark Rueegg, CelsiusPro Group’s CEO, says: “Parametric insurance is a scalable solution to narrow the protection gap, an acute concern in the Pacific. The partnership with Tower highlights the importance of the Pacific region for the CelsiusPro Group, as climate technology, data science, and risk modeling can help people build resilience.”

Ron Mudaliar, Tower’s Chief Underwriting Officer, says: “Communities in the Pacific are seeing how innovation can change the way they interact with their insurance. This partnership with the CelsiusPro Group demonstrates Tower’s commitment to providing innovative products to accelerate viable and sustainable adoption of parametric insurance in the region”.

For many countries in the Pacific, less than 10 per cent of families have insurance. Through the collaboration between the two companies, Tower will be better set up to help people in the region access insurance against a prevailing severe weather peril. The end goal is to lessen the burden on local communities and their support networks, enabling them to recover from cyclone damage quickly through a process as simple as possible.

Alongside Tower’s online quote to buy capabilities, My Tower platform and adoption of digital kiosks for Pacific communities, the partnership with the CelsiusPro Group signifies the next milestone for insurance innovation in the Pacific, with the IT platform making it simpler for Tower customers to access and manage their parametric cover.

Tower’s parametric insurance product was recently showcased on the world stage in Ghana with the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) at the International Conference for Inclusive Insurance 2023.

The cover was first piloted in Fiji for the 2022/2023 cyclone season in collaboration with United Nations Capital Development Fund, and later through a partnership with Fiji Development Bank. Following the pilot's success, Cyclone Response Cover is now available to all Fijians.

For the 2023/2024 cyclone season, Tower is partnering with Tonga Development Bank to pilot the cover in Tonga. Future plans for the cover include expanding into other territories Tower operates in.

Tower will migrate to the CelsiusPro platform in the coming months.