Agenda

Hosted by MEFIN Hosted by the Microinsurance Network, IAIS, InsuResilience and A2ii

Poor and vulnerable people in the developing world are affected most by natural disasters. They suffer disproportionately due to their higher vulnerability and exposure and lower ability to cope and recover. In 2019, our Consultative Forums explored how insurance providers, policymakers, insurance regulators and supervisors can collaborate to reduce the protection gap and help to build resilience in the face of climate risk and natural disasters. The 17th Consultative Forum provided a platform for dialogue between these stakeholders, as well as the opportunity to meet with and learn from colleagues and experts involved in climate change from Asia and other regions.

Hosted by GIZ RFPI Asia

This Learning Session on Climate Risk Insurance (CRI) presented the various programs and initiatives by the public and private insurance sectors that aim to solve the insurance-related dilemmas impelled by climate change. We immersed ourselves in the discussion on how each global, regional, and national insurance players can strengthen their roles to participate in achieving the aspiration of closing the protection gap, starting with the G7 Climate Risk Insurance Initiative’s target of 400 million of the most vulnerable covered by insurance.

Hosted by CEAR

This pre-conference reviewed insights from CGE models for characterizing the climate change problem as well as designing policies to mitigate it, with special attention to the role of insurance. On Monday afternoon the focus was on reviewing the last 30 years of developments in computable general equilibrium (CGE) models for the descriptive characterization of climate change, and on Tuesday morning the focus turned to discussing the ways in which CGE models have been used, and could be used, to normatively evaluate policies seeking to mitigate the effects of climate change. There was a considerable time for public discussion and questions.

Hosted by the ILO´s Impact Insurance Facility and the IFC

The 2019 edition of the Impact Insurance Forum was jointly organized by the ILO’s Impact Insurance Facility and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and focussed on the topic “Insurance for women: Opportunities for insurers”. Globally, the socioeconomic status of women and their power to make decisions and influence household spending is increasing. Women now tend to earn more and to have better control of their assets, which significantly impacts their ability to help their families and communities and to contribute to economic growth. Yet, women’s ability to mitigate risks remains low, and can even be worsened by the impacts of climate change. How can the insurance industry play a role in addressing the financial protection and risk mitigation needs of women? The Forum presented the business case for why insurers should address the women’s market, how the risks women face differ from those of other segments and share the most effective strategies for engaging with and selling insurance to women above and beyond traditional distribution channels.

Hosted by CEAR

For details see agenda 4 November 2019

> download presentation

National opening ceremony

Sheikh Kabir Hossain
President, BIA
Bangladesh

Prof. Rubina Hamid
First Vice President, BIA
Bangladesh

Doubell Chamberlain
Chairman of the Board, Microinsurance Network
Luxembourg

Thomas Loster
Chairman, Munich Re Foundation
Germany

Shafiqur Rahman Patwary
Chairman, IRDA
Bangladesh

Asadul Islam
Senior Secretary, Financial Institutions Division
Bangladesh

Welcome note
Mustafa Kamal
Finance Minister of Bangladesh

Climate change will increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events worldwide. Disasters are forcing over 25 million people into poverty each year. Insurance solutions and disaster risk finance as part of a comprehensive disaster risk management approach can enable more resilient economic development, build resilient societies and help protect lives. However, protection against climate risks is often not or hardy available in developing markets. This session discussed latest research about access to climate risk insurance and the role of different stakeholders to increase outreach.

Keynote
Dr. Atiur Rahman
Professor of the Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka
Bangladesh

Astrid Zwick
Head of InsuResilience Secretariat, InsuResilience GlobalPartnership
Germany

Lea Müller
Head of Consulting, CelsiusPro
Switzerland
> download presentation

Ashok Shah
Group CEO, Apollo Investments
Kenya
> download presentation

Facilitator
Thomas Loster
Chairman, Munich Re Foundation
Germany

Hosted by Microinsurance Master

Inclusive insurance is reaching an increasing number of low-income communities. But these numbers pale in comparison against the potential of billions of people who could benefit from insurance cover. Distribution remains one of the key challenges to reach the masses. In this session, we brought together senior leaders of inclusive insurance champions. Together they serve millions of customers in over a dozen countries. We explored commonalities, differences, challenges and recommendations.

Lorenzo Chan
CEO, Pioneer Insurance
Philippines

Richard Leftley
CEO, MicroEnsure
United Kingdom

Mark Robertson
Head of strategy and analytics, Hollard Life
South Africa

Facilitator

Bert Opdebeeck
Founder, Microinsurance Master
Belgium

Hosted by the BIA

Insurance in Bangladesh is provided through various channels under different jurisdictions. This session aimed at getting a better understanding of the role of different stakeholders and exploring opportunities for cooperation between the diverse players.

Prof. Rubina Hamid
Chairman, Sun Life Insurance
Bangladesh

Farzanah Chowdhury
Managing Director & CEO, Green Delta Insurance
Bangladesh
> download presentation

Shameran Abed
Senior Director, Microfinance, BRAC
Bangladesh

Dr. Mosharraf Hossain
Member, IDRA
Bangladesh

Asadul Islam
Senior Secretary, Financial Institutions Division
Bangladesh

Facilitator

Michael J. McCord
Managing Director, MicroInsurance Centre at Milliman
United States

Hosted by GIZ

Not only are SMEs a significantly underserved target market by insurers, but in most developing markets the risks faced by and insurance needs of this economically vital group are barely understood. Apart from a handful of exceptions, insurers brand ‘shrunken’ corporate insurance products as SME insurance or offer no SME-specific products at all. How can insurers, InsurTechs, distributors, governments, donors etc. act to better understand and serve SMEs with insurance that effectively meets their needs?

Kristian Mangold
Public sector business developer, AXA
France
> download presentation

Jeremy Gray
Senior Engagement Manager, Cenfri
South Africa

Sara Jane Ahmed
V20 Finance Advisor, Office of the Advisor and Representative - Climate Vulnerable Forum and V20
Philippines

Facilitator

Gregor Sahler
Advisor, GIZ
Germany

Hosted by ILO's Impact Insurance Facility and FSDA

The session focused on why leaders need to implement a systematic change process to be able to better serve low-income households. The session was designed as a Learn and Act workshop with a presentation on the change management framework, case studies and a couple of exercises that participants can do as a group or individually.

Facilitator

Craig Churchill
Team Leader, ILO's Impact Insurance Facility
Switzerland
> download presentation

Facilitator

Thomas Wiechers
Assistant Director Insurance, FSD Africa
Kenya

Hosted by InsuResilience

Women are at the forefront of climate change, facing disproportionately high risks to their health, education, food security and livelihoods. At the same time, women are disproportionately excluded from formal financial systems. Therefore, there is an urgent need to focus on gender dimensions of climate risk insurance. In this session, we seeked to deep-dive into gender sensitive approaches to climate risk insurance and seeked to identify solutions and concrete actions for greater gender-inclusiveness in climate risk insurance.

Hannah Grant
Head of Secretariat, A2ii
Germany

Christina George
Gender Advisor, African Risk Capacity
Italy

Vener Abellera
President/CEO, CARD MRI Insurance Agency
Philippines

Facilitator
Katherine Miles
Consultant, InsuResilience GlobalPartnership
United Kingdom   
> download presentation

Hosted by BIA

Pranav Prashad
Senior Technical Officer, ILO's Impact Insurance Facility
Switzerland
> download presentation

Andrew Smith
Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer, Telenor Health
Bangladesh

Prof. Shibli Rubayet
Chairman, Shadharon Bima Corporation
Bangladesh

Khali Ahmed
ED, IDRA
Bangladesh

Facilitator

Sultan-ul-Abedine Molla
Managing Director, Academy of Learning
Bangladesh

Hosted by the IFC

The session focused on a number of aspects regarding the development of the first ever Weather Index Insurance in Bangladesh. Previous domestic experiences of agri/disaster insurance including public and private sector initiatives and challenges of developing this type of insurance in Bangladesh were discussed. Furthermore, the unavailability of archived weather and crop production data as well as the role of subsidies and regulatory aspects of agri-insurance were important topics of this session.

Md. Shameem Hassan Bhuiyan
Weather Data Scientist, Independent Consultant
Bangladesh
> download presentation

Abdul Momen
Head of SME Banking, BRAC Bank
Bangladesh

Md. Masum
Chairman, Supreme Seeds Company
Bangladesh

Farzanah Chowdhury
Managing Director & CEO, Green Delta Insurance
Bangladesh
> download presentation

Vijaysekar Kalavakonda
Senior Financial Sector Specialist, IFC
United States

Facilitator

Prerna Saxena
Operations Officer, IFC
Bangladesh
> download presentation

Agriculture microinsurance as the initiator of integrated risk management to cope with climate risks issues for sustainable farming – Lessons learnt from Indonesia
Jakub Nugraha
Division Head, PT Asuransi Central Asia
Indonesia
> download presentation

Scaling participatory approaches for index insurance

Daniel Osgood
Lead Financial Instruments Sector Team, Columbia University
United States
> download presentation

Facilitator

Dirk Reinhard

Vice Chairman, Munich Re Foundation
Germany

Hosted by ILO's Impact Insurance Facility and FSDA

The nature of sales and the identity and role of the “sales agent” is changing with the proliferation of digital tools, the design of integrated/bundled products and the entry of new players. In this panel, we looked at approaches that organizations have taken to improve how they recruit, train, and monitor their sales agents, at how insurers may set-up or tap into agent networks that are being used by financial institutions/mobile operators, and at the digital solutions available for agents and clients. The panel explored how the sales model has evolved from agents to digital, group, bundled and how insurers can best manage these channels/partnerships to ensure sales are executed efficiently and responsibly. It further discussed what the characteristics of a successful sales agent are, how providers can set up an agent network and how to offer “assisted” sales models.

Saurabh Sharma
General Manager Microinsurance, Britam
Kenya

Richard Leftley
CEO, MicroEnsure
United Kingdom

Facilitator
Thomas Wiechers
Assistant Director Insurance, FSD Africa
Kenya

Hosted by A2iiThe topic of climate risk insurance and the role that insurance supervisors can play in bridging the protection gap is a key focus of the Access to Insurance Initiative (A2ii) in 2019. Over the course of the year, A2ii and its partners brought together policymakers, supervisors and the industry to explore their roles and responsibilities in reducing the protection gap in climate risk insurance and identify urgent steps they need to take. The plenary session focussed on the role of insurance supervisors and policymakers in ensuring that low income consumers and SMEs are more resilient to natural catastrophes. It summarised the main outcomes from three dialogue events in Latin America, Africa and Asia and further research done by A2ii on the topic of climate risk insurance, highlighting global lessons for policymakers and supervisors that derive from the regional discussions.

Teresa Pelanda
Advisor, A2ii
Germany
> download presentation

Kristian Mangold
Public sector business developer, AXA
France
> download presentation

Yegnapriya Bharath
Chief General Manager, IRDA
India
> download presentation

Facilitator

Andrea Camargo
Technical Expert, A2ii
United Kingdom

Hosted by the Microinsurance Network

In the wake of catastrophic events, insurance payouts can make a significant difference to survivors in accessing the material and psychosocial resources needed to rebuild their lives and get back on their feet. In this session we looked at the needs of survivors, including coping with trauma, and discussed how the inclusive insurance industry can play a role in providing access to services for their clients.

Lorenzo Chan
CEO, Pioneer Insurance
Philippines

Denis Garand
President, Denis Garand and Associates
Canada
> download presentation

Isabelle Delpeche
Micro Insurance Director, Alternative Insurance Company (AIC)
Haiti

Farzanah Chowdhury
Managing Director & CEO, Green Delta Insurance
Bangladesh
> download presentation

Facilitator

Katharine Pulvermacher
Managing Director, Microinsurance Network
Luxembourg

Hosted by Microinsurance Centre at Milliman

In overcoming the various challenges faced by low-income people, an increasing number of innovations and technologies have emerged in the arena of inclusive insurance. Moreover, there is a growing number of reference reports that highlight the evolving intersections of the actuarial profession with technological innovation. As a result, the Society of Actuaries (SOA) commissioned the MicroInsurance Centre at Milliman to develop a literature review on emerging technologies that interact with the actuarial profession within the space of microinsurance. Drawing from the literature review, this session provided concrete examples of key technologies being applied in the microinsurance space. It engaged the panelists in the debate and spark participants’ interest in creating a vision for how inclusive insurance and its associated technologies might impact the actuarial industry in the future.

Annette Houtekamer-van Dam
Co-founder and Product Lead, IBISA
Luxembourg
> download presentation

Paul Mesarcik
Director, Lumkani
South Africa

David Ding
Head of Insurance Channels, Smart Thinking Consulting
China

Facilitator

Queenie Chow
Microinsurance Specialist, Asia-Pacific region, MicroInsurance Centre at Milliman
Australia

Hosted by MCII

The session aimed at presenting disaster risk financing frameworks focusing on integrating micro insurance into meso and macro level schemes in the Caribbean and Pacific. Experts shared their knowledge in developing new ways of applying insurance to complement disaster risk management and climate change adaptation efforts. The session covered the findings and lessons learned from the Climate Risk Adaptation and Insurance in the Caribbean (CRAIC) project and the Pacific Regional Climate Risk Adaptation and Insurance (PRCRAI) scoping study.

Tara James
Senior Regional Coordinator, MCII
Germany


(attended via Skype)
Krishnan Narasimhan
Deputy Program Manager, United Nations Capital Development Fund
Fiji

Pranav Prashad
Senior Technical Officer, ILO's Impact Insurance Facility
Switzerland

Facilitator

Jennifer Cissé
Insurance Manager, Munich Climate Insurance Initiative
Germany

Hosted by Munich Re

Area yield insurance is one of the most promising approaches for covering smallholder farmers. The implementation of area yield crop insurance in developing countries, however, is limited by the availability of reliable official crop yield data on a regional level. Therefore, new approaches are necessary to make area yield insurance a viable option. Munich Re’s agricultural business unit entered into a partnership with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), which has special expertise in evaluating and developing crop growth models, and the GAF AG, a leading remote sensing company with special focus on agricultural applications. The session discussed how to develop alternative methods for crop yield estimations using crop growth models and remote sensing technology and how to utilize these methods structuring new crop insurance products. Case studies for Bangladesh were integrated.

Felicitas Röhrig
Researcher, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
Germany
> download presentation

Dr. Axel Relin
Unit Head, GAF AG
Germany
> download presentation

Facilitator

Joachim Herbold
Senior Underwriter, Munich Re
Germany
> download presentation

Hosted by InsuResilience, Cenfri and the Microinsurance Network

Through the destruction that they leave in their wake, climate change and natural disasters undermine progress made towards development goals. In this session, we explored the role that insurance plays in development generally, before diving into concrete examples of how innovative programmes working with municipalities in South Africa and Bangladesh have helped to build the resilience of vulnerable populations.

Jan Kellet
Special Advisor, UNDP
Switzerland

Augusto Hidalgo
Head of Capital, Science and Policy, Southeast Asia, Willis Towers Watson
Philippines

Dr. Saleemul Huq
Director, ICCCAD
Bangladesh

Facilitator

Doubell Chamberlain
Managing Director, Cenfri
South Africa

The power of combining mHealth and insurance products for undeserved customers in Bangladesh

Israt Mustafa
Head of Products, Milvik
Bangladesh
> download presentation

New inclusive insurance products or partnerships in the fields of health or hospital cash

Richard Leftley
CEO, MicroEnsure
United Kingdom
> download presentation

Policy brief of health finance scheme for readymade garment workers in Bangladesh: A case analysis

Jamal Uddin
Inclusive Business Advisor, SVN Netherlands Development Organization
Bangladesh
> download presentation

Facilitator

Denis Garand
President, Denis Garand and Associates
Canada

Hosted by ILO's Impact Insurance Facility

Awareness, access and trust on insurance products in agricultural settings remains low. In order to overcome this challenge, different approaches are being adopted to reach the targeted beneficiaries and ease their enrolment to the programme. As a lot of these customers are usually remote and also impacted by local traditions and cultural issues, local mechanisms are evolving that work well in rural scenarios. Using varied examples from different geographical locations, the session strived to highlight the role of integrating the awareness and enrolment process in a scenario that is comfortable to the customers, making insurance more inclusive. The panel showcased models that help to “translate” the insurance process into an understandable one for the farmers.

Syed Moinuddin Ahmed
Additional Managing Director & Company Secretary, Green Delta Insurance
Bangladesh
> download presentation

Devilal Vyas
Director, People's Education and Development Organization
India
> download presentation

Sarfraz Shah
Project Manager, APA Insurance
Kenya
> download presentation

Facilitator

Pranav Prashad
Senior Technical Officer, ILO's Impact Insurance Facility
Switzerland

Hosted by the Microinsurance Network

In this session we drew upon the data collected to take a bird’s eye view at the state of inclusive insurance around the world. Experts discussed what data can tell us about the current state on inclusive insurance as well as the barriers and opportunities that lay ahead. The session summarized the current barriers to strategic and efficient data collection and what measures can be put in place to ensure the right data is being collected.

Katharine Pulvermacher
Managing Director, Microinsurance Network
Luxembourg

Mariah Mateo Sarpong
Knowledge Management Specialist, Microinsurance Centre at Milliman
United States

Queenie Chow
Microinsurance Specialist, Asia-Pacific region, MicroInsurance Centre at Milliman
Australia

Facilitator

Katharine McKee
Member of the Board, Microinsurance Network
United States

Hosted by InsuResilience and GIIF

How can technology be a multiplier for scalable climate risk microinsurance solutions? This session explored the successes, the challenges and the enabling conditions for successful deployment of technology in the climate risk insurance space. Technology can help in dealing with the challenges faced in this space and bring about significant transformation including improved efficiency, increased speed of service delivery, reduced transaction cost and a more affordable product pricing. In addition, the session aimed at a better understanding of different technology solutions available, which could play a key role in the scale up of insurance coverage.

Rishi Raithatha
Insights Manager - AgriTech program, GSMA - Mobile for Development
United Kingdom

Dr. Jochen Ramcke
Senior Project Manager, GIZ
Germany

Doubell Chamberlain
Managing Director, Cenfri
South Africa

Vijaysekar Kalavakonda
Senior Financial Sector Specialist, IFC
United States

Facilitator

Richard Leftley
CEO, MicroEnsure
United Kingdom

Katharine Pulvermacher
Managing Director, Microinsurance Network
Luxembourg

Orville Johnson
Executive Director, Insurance Association of Jamaica
Jamaica

Astrid Zwick
Head of InsuResilience Secretariat, InsuResilience GlobalPartnership
Germany

Sheikh Kabir Hossain
President, BIA
Bangladesh

Facilitator

Dirk Reinhard
Vice Chairman, Munich Re Foundation
Germany