ARC provides ex-ante solutions to improve current responses to drought, food security emergencies and other natural catastrophes
across the continent while building capacity within African Union Member States to manage catastrophe risks by directly linking
funds to pre-defined contingency plans.
The African Risk Capacity Limited (ARC Ltd.) is a financial affiliate of the African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group, a specialized agency of the African Union (AU), an initiative designed to improve current responses to climate-related food security emergencies. ARC Ltd. is a mutual insurance facility comprised of its members, which have included Kenya, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Mali, Malawi, the Gambia, Burkina Faso, Chad, Zimbabwe, Togo, Madagascar, and Zambia. The membership also includes its capital contributors who have provided premium subsidies, including USAID, FCDO, SDC, KFW/BMZ, IFAD, AFDB, WFP and STARTNETWORK.
Fitch Ratings has upgraded African Risk Capacity (ARC) Limited’s outlook to stable with an Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) rating of 'A-' and a Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of 'BBB+'. The upgrade is due to ARC Ltd.’s “strong progress in terms of meeting its development objectives, demonstrated by enhanced claim payouts to affected African sovereigns, product diversification and improving the reach of its development activities. Strong progress in product diversification initiatives and the improving franchise have also led to a higher company profile score of 'bbb'.” It is also ranked the top ESG insurance company in the world by Sustainalytics.
ARC Ltd.’s specialization as a parametric insurance provider and its strong track record in claims payouts have boosted its company profile. The introduction last year of an outbreaks and epidemics product followed by a flood risk product this year have strengthened and diversified its portfolio.
Because ARC's parametric insurance covers only part of the risk our Member States face, ARC extended its mandate in 2020 to support the development of micro and meso insurance schemes. It has expanded the customer base to include sub-national governments such as states, provinces and small and medium farmers through aggregators. Emphasis is placed on support for the formation of market solutions in partnership with local value chains.
ARC Limited is a signatory to the Nairobi Declaration for Sustainable Insurance programme a UN-PSI initiative.