How microinsurance protects poor people
“He was our anchor, the one who kept everything together”. These are the words of Luiza, a housewife living with her husband, mother and two teenage sons in the low-income neighbourhood of Nilopolis on the northern outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. The family had just returned from a holiday visiting family, with only R$4 (~US$2) left on their names, when disaster struck. Unexpectedly, Luiza’s father died. Though he had had some health problems from time to time, he had refused to go to a doctor and his death had come as a big shock to the family. A few months after his death, they are still coming to terms with it.
Related documents
Access to Insurance Initiative launched
Rio de Janeiro, 22 October 2009 – The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), Consultative Group for Assisting the Poor (CGAP) and World Bank, International Labour Organization (ILO), German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the FinMark Trust have joined together to launch the Access to Insurance Initiative. The Access to Insurance Initiative is a new collaborative approach between international development agencies and insurance supervisors through the IAIS. This global programme is designed to strengthen the capacity and understanding of insurance supervisors, and to facilitate their role in expanding access to insurance markets. The expected outcome is to contribute towards an improved policy, regulatory and supervisory environment consistent with international insurance standards, encourage investment in the insurance sector, and develop sustainable microinsurance operations in emerging markets.
Voices on the Initiative
"The Initiative will help us to tackle this challenge" addes J Hari Narayan, Chair of IAIS Implementation Committee
At the ceremony held to mark the launch, Dr. Peter Braumüller, Chair of IAIS Executive Committee and Director of the Financial Market Authority in Austria, while commending and supporting this joint initiative stated, “This is another expression of the commitment of the IAIS to the G20’s pledge to improve access to finance by promoting successful regulatory, supervisory and policy approaches and elaborating standards on financial access. The IAIS has a broad membership encompassing both emerging and developed markets. Having realised the importance of this issue we already initiated work in 2007 to better understand the dynamics involved so as to respond in an appropriate manner.”
"The challenge is to elaborate balanced standards." says Armando Vergilio dos Santos Junior, Chair of the IAIS Subgroup on Microinsurance
Armando Vergilio dos Santos Junior, Chair of the IAIS Subgroup on Microinsurance and Superintendent at the insurance supervisory authority in Brazil (Superintendencia de Seguros Privados - SUSEP) on an optimistic note mentioned that, “Microinsurance holds the promise for a massive expansion globally and is bound to contribute towards realising the goal of access to insurance tremendously”. He emphasised: “The challenge before us today is to elaborate standards that allow low‐cost delivery of insurance services without exposing customers to unnecessary risks and costs. It is a challenge we will meet.”
"The Initiative will help us to tackle this challenge" addes J Hari Narayan, Chair of IAIS Implementation Committee
“This joint initiative lays the foundation for a deeper and sustained partnership for expanding knowledge and building the capacity of supervisors. I would expect that we will soon be able to make use of this understanding to tackle the challenges and take advantage of opportunities that arise”, added J Hari Narayan, Chair of IAIS Implementation Committee and Chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) in India as he welcomed the Initiative.
"The Initiative will assist policy makers to create an enabling environment for microinsurance" says Craig Churchill Chair of the Microinsurance Network
"I am thrilled to see the emergence of this Initiative from the cutting edge work of the Microinsurance Network over the years," said the ILO's Craig Churchill, who also serves as the Chair of the Network. "The ILO strongly supports the Access to Insurance Initiative because we believe that it has the tools and expertise to assist policy makers to create an enabling environment for microinsurance, which can help to advance the ILO's Decent Work Agenda."
"The Initiative sets the right path to achieve security for all" emphasizes Adolf Kloke‐Lesch, Director General at the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
“Those who live in constant uncertainty of losing their jobs, home or good health are less able to be as economically productive and are often stymied in reaching their full potential,” said Adolf Kloke‐Lesch, Director General at the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), “Microinsurance reduces the vulnerability of poor people to risks. The Access to Insurance Initiative sets the right path for improved framework conditions to achieve this security for all. That is why we gladly lend our support to the initiative.”
Back to Home.
