Barbados Issues 1st Pandemic-Protected Bond, Which Also Covers Natural Disasters September 22, 2022 By Marc Jones Barbados has issued the world’s first government bond with a clause allowing payments to be suspended in the event of...
Why World Bank’s Controversial Pandemic Bonds Didn’t Function as Hoped December 10, 2020 By Tracy Alloway and Tasos Vossos In late January 2015, just after the deadliest outbreak of Ebola in history, then-World Bank President Jim Yong Kim stood...
Complex Financial Products Aren’t the Solution to Climate Change or Pandemic: Opinion May 8, 2020 By Kate Mackenzie, Bloomberg Opinion Almost exactly four years ago the World Bank announced a pioneering project, the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility, designed to develop...
Pandemic Bonds Get Stay of Execution but Prospect of Wipeout Looms April 16, 2020 By Tasos Vossos A ruling last week not to wipe out holders of a World Bank financial instrument providing emergency funds to poor...
Coronavirus Outbreak Exposes Flaws in Design of Pandemic Bonds March 23, 2020 By Maria Cheng To offset the crushing costs of trying to stem a global epidemic, the World Bank and partners announced the creation...
Coronavirus Likely to Trigger Pandemic Bond Payouts to Poor Countries March 11, 2020 By Tasos Vossos The severity of the global coronavirus epidemic has reached levels almost certain to trigger a financial instrument sold by the...
Catastrophe Bond Prices Signal Coronavirus Nearing Pandemic Status February 28, 2020 By Tasos Vossos The World Health Organization says the coronavirus isn’t yet a global pandemic. Bonds that insure against just such a catastrophe...
World Bank Pandemic Bond Losing Value, Facing Criticism as Coronavirus Spreads February 19, 2020 By Karin Strohecker A World Bank bond designed to deliver funding to help the world’s poorest countries to tackle fast-spreading diseases has lost...