Cyclone Response Cover

Parametric insurance is cover that’s triggered by a parameter, such as a metric or an index.

Our parametric insurance – Cyclone Response Cover – provides payments to customers whose insured location is within a certain distance of a cyclone, and the amount paid out is based on windspeed at that location.

Fiji is a high-risk area for exposure to natural hazards of which cyclones are the most common, and you may be left out of pocket if your location or belongings are damaged by a cyclone.

Our Cyclone Response Cover aims to provide you with urgent cash to ease the immediate financial impact of a cyclone.

Cyclone Response Cover is not a replacement for house insurance or contents insurance, and you may choose to take it out in addition to having house and/or contents cover for additional protection.

Anyone can buy Cyclone Response Cover to help reduce the financial impact of a cyclone event in your location.  

With Cyclone Response cover you can also get cover for any location you own, so you can be prepared for potential damage to your home, business, farm or crops.

If you would prefer more cover, our house insurance or contents insurance might be better for you.

Any business or non-profit organisation can get Cyclone Response Cover too, but a separate policy is needed for each location it owns or operates – up to $3,000 cover for each.

Our Cyclone Response Cover is different to traditional insurance in three ways: 

1. It’s available for everyone. Unlike House Insurance and Contents Insurance, Cyclone Response Cover doesn’t require you to have an engineer’s certificate, which can be costly and difficult to obtain.  
2. You don't need to lodge a claim. We will automatically pay if your insured location is within a certain distance of a cyclone that meets the criteria we’ve set out. You don’t need to lodge a claim or provide evidence of damage.
3. Instant cash for immediate expenses. Cyclone Response Cover pays out quickly so you can use that money to help cover immediate financial needs after a cyclone event, whatever they may be. With traditional insurance you may have to use agreed suppliers to repair the damage to your property. 

No. Each Cyclone Response Cover policy covers a single location only.

If you want to insure properties you own in different locations, you’ll need to buy a separate policy for each one. 

We’ll send you a welcome email alongside your Certificate of Insurance and you can access a copy of Cyclone Response Cover policy from our website. 

Our Cyclone Response Cover has a stand down period of 30-days. This means that any cyclone event that occurs within 30 days of the start date of your policy will not be covered.

We apply a stand-down period when you initially buy a policy to ensure a fair engagement and equal information about upcoming cyclone events between all parties. We look forward to providing cover and supporting you during a cyclone once you have passed the initial 30-day stand-down period.  

Please note: this requirement only applies when you first buy a policy, not when you renew your policy for the following years.  

Yes, you have a “Free look period”. If you’re not completely happy with your policy, you can cancel it within 30 days of the start date. We’ll refund any premiums you paid and we’ll both regard this policy as never having started. 

However, once the cyclone season starts (15 October) and you have passed the 30 day free look period, you will not be eligible for a refund if you ask us to cancel your policy after that date.

Your eligibility for a payment is based on the cyclone category and the distance of your location from the cyclone. We use independent data from the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JTWC) with eligibility determined by an independent monitoring agent called Weather Risk Management Services (WRMS).

WRMS map your insured location against the cyclone trajectory and then notify us if you are eligible for a payment, which we aim to pay-out within 7-days after the cyclone event. 

During the period of your policy, you will be eligible to receive up to 100% of the total cover amount in pay-outs. This can happen via single Category 5 cyclone event resulting in a 100% pay-out, or multiple payouts through the period that add up to 100%.

If you have received 100% of your cover, you will not be eligible for any further payouts during the policy period. You will need to buy a new policy to cover you for the remainder of the period. 

Wind speeds are measured using Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) Tropical Cyclone data.

JTWC is one of the Regional Specialized Meteorological Centers (RSMCs) in the southern hemisphere appointed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) for the Pacific region. The JTWC uses a 1-minute averaging period to calculate the Maximum Sustained Wind (MSW) values.