Within the international reinsurance market, PartnerRe has pioneered initiatives to engage in local market development efforts with financial institutions in developing countries for implementing parametric weather and parametric catastrophe products. PartnerRe has supported the design and implementation of programmes in developing countries at both macro and micro levels.
Based on Partner Re’s experience, this article aims to provide an overview of the current market development efforts and to set out what are considered to be the key constraints that impede the sustainable development of private parametric insurance markets in developing countries. The article recommends an approach that facilitates the participation of local financial institutions in the development of sustainable risk transfer markets.