The history of the Initiative - from the "Regulation, Supervision and Policy Issues" Group to the Access to Insurance Initiative

For the past six years, the members of the Microinsurance Network (formerly the CGAP Working Group on Microinsurance) have cooperated to enhance access for the low-income population to insurance products. The Microinsurance Network is comprised of donor organizations, multilateral agencies and other parties which support the promotion and development of sound and inclusive insurance markets in emerging markets, but do not promote the interests of any particular organisation or business. It has evolved into being the key dialogue platform on microinsurance and facilitates information exchange and stakeholder coordination to increase access to insurance for low-income population groups.

The Microinsurance Network has a Working Group on Regulation, Supervision and Policy Issues (RSP Group) that includes representatives from the International Labour Office, CGAP and the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Copperation and Development (BMZ), the DFID-funded FinMark Trust, International Cooperative and Mutual Insurers Federation (ICMIF), Microinsurance Center, Planet Gurantee and other insurance and financial sector development practitioners. The RSP Group is chaired by GTZ on behalf of BMZ.   

In 2006, the IAIS and the RSP Group formed a Joint Working Group (JWG) in order to exchange knowledge on how regulation and supervision impact microinsurance market development. The JWG drafted the Issues paper on Regulation and Supervision of Microinsurance, which was adopted by the IAIS in 2007. Following this, the JWG agreed to work further to strengthen implementation of existing IAIS standards and guidance as well as develop specific application guidance, consistent with IAIS Insurance Core Principles (ICPs), on approaches that regulators and supervisors could use to facilitate greater access to insurance.  

To date, the JWG has functioned on the basis of loose cooperation based on mutually compatible goals of the participating institutions in the microinsurance sphere. Members of the Microinsurance Network and the IAIS members and observers funded their own participation in the JWG activities with significant in-kind contributions being the back-bone of the work to date. However, as the scope of activities under the broad mandate of the JWG has increased and diversified to such an extent that in-kind contributions and voluntary staff time are no longer sufficient to carry the JWG programme, a more formalised approach and dedicated funding is now required.  Therefore, the following members of the JWG have agreed to establish the Access to Insurance Initiative: the IAIS, BMZ, CGAP, the International Labour Organization, represented by the International Labour Office (ILO), and FinMark Trust.