microfinance

A recent storm in eastern India has again highlighted the fact that micro-finance weather insurance solutions need to be carefully designed in order to meet the needs of the policyholders. We’ve seen issues in the past with these schemes as payouts have not met with expectations of policyholders as their strict conditions of coverage are […]

Munich Re have teamed up with Indonesian insurer Asuransi Wahana Tata to bring an innovative micro-insurance product to Indonesia. The product ‘Alert 1 Manggarai Protection Card‘ offers index-based flood insurance cheaply and easily to low income families in the Indonesian capital Jakarta. The new product started life as a feasibility study between Munich Re (as […]

Here’s an interesting video interview with Eric Seuret of a technology company called 3S Mobile. As you might guess they provide mobile software and mobile internet related services. They are providing the technology behind an interesting use of SMS (text messaging) to enable Kenyan small holder farmers to gain access to micro-finance weather insurance protection. […]

There’s an interesting story in the Hindustan Times today which discusses the effect of climate change on the insurance companies who’ve started to offer weather insurance cover to farmers and small businesses in India. The story explans that despite being bullish about the new products when they were launched, confidence is waning as the insurance […]

The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) has received funding for the 2009 hurricane season from the European Union. The EU has put forwards €12.5m to help shore up the fund in case of a disaster and allow it to pay claims more easily. The cat facilities reserve pool now consists of many entities including […]

Universal Sompo General Insurance, the Indian subsidiary of Sompo Japan, have announced a move to launch weather insurance micro-finance products to the Indian agriculture market. Universal Sompo is a joint venture between Indian bank and investment companies and the huge Japanese insurer. They plan to leverage their massive branch and agent network (4,000 odd) to […]

Guy Carpenter have been awarded a grant by the Microinsurance Innovation Facility to allow them to develop a reinsurance facility for microfinance operations. Using the grant Guy Carpenter will create the infrastructure for a reinsurance pooling facility dedicated to microfinance risk transfer solutions. This will enable microfinance initiatives to access the global reinsurance and risk […]

The Jamaica Gleaner newspaper is carrying a story about the next steps of Jamaica’s search for protection from hurricanes, tropical storms and the resulting flood damage. The story reports that the Inter American Development Bank is planning to spend money on a research project into the regulatory environment to see if it will support introduction […]

The European Commission has provided funding to support the Global Index Insurance Facility. The facility aims to help countries mitigate catastrophe and weather risks through the use of index-based insurance solutions. The GIIF is a WorldBank initiative implemented by the International Finance Corporation. This is further evidence of alternative risk techniques becoming mainstream as they […]

The United Nations World Food Programme has teamed up with the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to provide almost $1m in funding to support research and planning for weather index-based insurance schemes aimed at poor rural farmers. This is great and furthers the cause of index-based mechanisms for […]