Bloomberg reports that Holcim, the second largest cement producer in the world, is going to offer catastrophe microinsurance to customers in developing countries and emerging markets as an additional sales tool giving them a way to mitigate some of the risks of constructing homes in catastrophe prone countries.
Holcim have teamed up with insurer Zurich Financial to create the microinsurance product and will first be offering it to low-income individuals in Indonesia when they buy their products. Customers in Indonesia will be able to pay as little as $10 per year to purchase a microinsurance policy when they buy construction materials or fertilizer. The policy will provide them with catastrophe microinsurance against earthquakes, tsunamis, fire, windstorms and riots hitting their newly built homes.
The idea is to encourage customers to buy Holcim products by providing a way to mitigate the risks of their home being struck by a disaster, thus providing them with some financial risk management for what is a large investment for people in the region.
The story doesn’t detail how the policies will be structured or triggered but we assume that, as with many microinsurance policies, there are likely to be weather or catastrophe indices involved.
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