International Conference on Inclusive Insurance 2021 -
Digital Edition

Scaping the landscape of inclusive insurance

“If you can measure it, you can improve it” is one of the most commonly used quotes in business management. With this in mind, the Microinsurance Network's programme “The Landscape of Microinsurance” aims to shed light on the global status of inclusive insurance. According to the latest figures presented at ICII 2021, 377 million people in the 30 countries studied had some form of microinsurance coverage, representing between 6% and 14% of the target population.

Inclusive Insurance - The Jamaican Perspective

Climate and pandemic risks

Climate-related risks remain one of the key challenges in closing the insurance gap in emerging economies. Examples from the Caribbean showed that combinations of different risk management approaches on various micro, meso and macro levels can increase overall resilience. “We need more inclusive disaster risk financing” said participants at the conference. Neither government programmes nor microinsurance alone can provide a reliable and affordable safety net. Research presented at the conference indeed showed more maturing products with increasing scale as part of a more holistic safety net. However, most climate risk insurance is still heavily dependent on subsidies and more self-sustaining solutions are needed. 

The challenge of reaching the client

One of the success factors for the growth of health insurance is the increased use of technology in enrolment and administration as well as on the part of healthcare providers. Telemedicine programmes from Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Egypt, presented at the conference, have proven to be attractive, especially during the pandemic, and have improved access to health services. At the same time, understanding and trusting insurance remains a key challenge. Financial education should therefore build financial capability and requires a strategic approach as well as language that people understand, as in the cases of Ghana, Mozambique or Jamaica, which were presented at the conference. Financial education should start in school to educate the policyholders of tomorrow.

Finding efficient and trusted distribution channels remains a key factor for success. WhatsApp-enabled microinsurance in India or the combination of mobile-wallets with insurance in Kenya were examples of how to enter the mass market with established and trusted tools. The downside of the digitisation is that it might leave behind those who do not have access to digital solutions – as is frequently the case for women in many emerging economies – or simply do not know how to use them. Hence, combining digital with offline solutions should always be considered to make insurance more accessible.

The way forward

The COVID crisis poses a threat to global financial inclusion, but also opens up opportunities for insurers, digitalisation and public-private partnerships (PPPs). “Insurance needs to be integrated in the development agenda since it plays an important role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”, said UNDP representatives. The UNDP has recently launched its Insurance and Risk Finance Facility to achieve this through partnerships, convening, coordinating and trying to change markets and how they work.

A key challenge is to get interested insurers to offer insurance to low-income clients. “Insurers need to understand that more growth is possible towards the lower end of the market compared to the already highly competitive upper end of the market”, said Lorenzo Chan, CEO of Pioneer Insurance in the Philippines and Chair of the Board of the Microinsurance Network, at the closing of the conference.

Programmes like the InsuResilience Global Partnership, which held a joint session at the ICII 2021, or the Insurance Development Forum (IDF), have been successful in getting the attention of policymakers and large insurers. But also regional and national champions are crucial. The implementation of national financial inclusion strategies has proven successful, and more similar approaches are necessary. Risk management, including insurance, plays far too important a role in sustainable economic development, which must be acknowledged by all stakeholders. At the ICII, the Minister of Finance and Public Service of Jamaica announced a new law on microinsurance to be submitted to parliament by the end of this fiscal year. This can be a game changer and more governments acting like this are needed. 

We would like to thank the content partners of the ICII 2021:

•        Microinsurance Network (MiN)
•        Insurance Association of Jamaica (IAJ)
•        Access to Insurance Initiative (A2ii)
•        Centre for Financial Regulation and Inclusion (Cenfri)
•        Center for the Economic Analysis of Risk (CEAR)
•        Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
•        Feed the Future Innovation Lab at UC Davis
•        ILO’s Social Finance Programme
•        InsuResilience
•        Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
•        World Bank/IFC
•        Microinsurance Master
•        PharmAccess Foundation
•        Sagicor
•        World Food Programme (WFP)

General enquiries about the conference: info@munichre-foundation.org