Aon, a leading global professional services firm, has been named to Fast Company’s 2026 World Changing Ideas for developing an innovative catastrophe bond with the World Bank that enabled the Government of Jamaica to rapidly access recovery funding following landfall of Hurricane Melissa in October 2025, Aon said in its press release.

Aon and the World Bank structured the USD 150 million catastrophe bond as a parametric model, which pays a pre-determined, fixed amount when a qualifying event occurs, in this case a catastrophic storm. This structure allows funds to be released more rapidly to support emergency response and recovery efforts for the affected communities of Jamaica, in this instance, within weeks.

This project demonstrates how Aon’s Risk Capital capabilities, including predictive climate analytics, securities structuring and access to capital markets, help organizations and governments better anticipate, manage and transfer risk, while strengthening financial resilience as climate events become more frequent and severe.

“This recognition from Fast Company highlights what is possible when capital markets and innovation come together to address global challenges”, said Greg Case, president and CEO, Aon. “By combining advanced analytics with capital solutions, we are helping countries build resilience with greater speed and certainty — with the objective of improving the availability of critical resources when they are needed most — transforming disaster financing from reactive aid into a more resilient, forward-looking model”, Greg Case added.

“Access to timely funding is critical following a natural disaster, particularly for countries most exposed to disaster risk”, said Jorge Familiar, vice president and treasurer for The World Bank Group. "The World Bank's Crisis Preparedness and Response Toolkit helps member countries build financial resilience, with instruments ranging from contingent credit lines to catastrophe bonds, which transfer disaster risk directly to global capital markets. Our collaboration with Aon exemplifies how sovereign governments can harness the depth of global capital markets to build financial resilience — and Jamaica's experience shows that this example illustrates how the model may function in practice, setting a blueprint we hope more countries will follow", Jorge Familiar emphasized.

Interest in the catastrophe bond market continues to grow, with governments and organizations seeking new ways to strengthen resilience and manage volatility. This is evident in the continued development of the Jamaica program, which has recently expanded to USD 200 million in coverage, marking the country’s largest catastrophe bond to date, the press release said.