Newsletters

Welcome! In this newsletter, we provide you with updates on the work of the A2ii, events and publications, and experiences and learning on inclusive insurance regulation and supervision across jurisdictions over the past month.

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iii-Lab Update | Publications | Upcoming Events | News | Recent Events | Staff Updates | Index Insurance Insights | ICP Tool | Trainings | Useful Tools on Our Website

iii-Lab Update 

New videos on the iii-lab

We published interviews with lab alumni sharing their experience, including:

• Barbara Chesire, Kenya, iii-lab 1

• Mohamed Feriss, Morocco, iii-lab 2

• Natalia Lopez Uris, Argentina, iii-lab 2

• Sibongile Siwela, Zimbabwe, iii-lab 3

• Germán Rodríguez, Costa Rica, iii-lab 3

Watch them on the iii-lab webpage.

At the recent lab International Incubator Event in Frankfurt, we spoke with the current cohort about inclusive insurance solutions they've developed so far and why this is not just another project - but a life-changing experience. Watch the video now. 

Argentine “Superadoras” initiative receives award 

An initiative that came out of team Argentina’s participation in the second Inclusive Insurance Innovation Lab (iii-lab), “Superadoras” are insurance products developed specifically for female entrepreneurs to make them more resilient against financial shocks. The products are offered through an online platform and at affordable prices.

“Superadoras” and the companies that carry out this project were recognised by the Fundación Iberoamericana Alianza del Seguro. At the XII Summit, held in Buenos Aires on 10 September, international awards were given to projects that aim to promote and publicize the strategies and initiatives of companies in the insurance sector to integrate the SDGs into their business models as a lever for innovation and business competitiveness. This reaffirms the collaborative and innovative commitment of the “Women and Insurance” project that came out of the second iii-lab. 

Nepal Holds 2nd National Workshop and Ecosystems Event

The second National Workshop and Ecosystem Event for Nepal under the Inclusive Innovation Insurance Lab (iii-lab) took place from 24 to 25 September at the Park Village Resort, Budhanilkantha, Kathmandu. The National Workshop, attended by the Nepal iii-lab team, served as a coaching session to help further develop their Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS), which aims to raise awareness among farmers, especially in remote areas, about agricultural climate risk insurance. The team provided updates on the IVRS and discussed key aspects such as the platform provider, content, features, and strategies for increasing farmer engagement.

The session also helped the team finalize their presentation for the Ecosystem Event, with support from A2ii and ReosPartners to sharpen their message for key stakeholders.

The Ecosystem Event took place on the morning of 25 September, with over 40 participants, including representatives from government ministries, the insurance sector, and local and international development organizations involved in agricultural insurance. Opening remarks were delivered by Director Pujan Dhungel Adhikari (NIA), Dr. Till Ludwig (GIZ Nepal), and Mr. Ronnie Limbago (A2ii). Ms. Rachel Jones (ReosPartners) gave a brief overview of the iii-lab and the 10-month journey of the participating countries.

Team Nepal then presented their IVRS, focusing on the challenges farmers face due to climate risks, the concept and features of the IVRS, and a simulation of how it works. Stakeholders provided feedback in group sessions, discussing the value of the IVRS, possible improvements, and how it aligns with their priorities. This feedback will guide the further development of the IVRS.

The event concluded with remarks from Mr. Surya Prasad Silwal, Chairman of the Nepal Insurance Authority, who thanked A2ii and ReosPartners for their support and expressed strong backing for the IVRS, encouraging other stakeholders to support the initiative.

Publications

Report on the Sustainability and ESG Regulatory Landscape in the CEET region 

The insurance industry plays a vital role in mitigating and pooling risks, with core principles deeply intertwined with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards. As demands from investors, end customers, policymakers, and standard setters continue to rise, the explicit incorporation of ESG factors into insurance operations becomes increasingly essential.

To delve deeper into how ESG standards are integrating into the insurance sector across Central, Eastern Europe, and Transcaucasia (CEET), the Access to Insurance Initiative (A2ii), in collaboration with the Insurance Supervisory Agency of Slovenia (AZN), conducted a survey in 2023 aimed to evaluate the current state of insurance regulations and initiatives encouraging sustainable insurance growth in the CEET region.

Click here to download the paper.

The recording of the launch webinar is also available.
 

Upcoming events

A2ii at the International Conference on Inclusive Insurance | 21 and 23 October, Nepal

Date: 21 October
19th Consultative Forum on Enhancing Data-Driven Insurance Supervision
This year's Consultative Forum will provide an interactive and engaging platform to explore the foundation and advanced applications of data in insurance supervision. Make sure to register for pre-conference 4 on your ICII registration form.

Agenda:

13:30 - 14:00 - Registrations

14:00 - 14:20 - Welcome remarks 

• Gabriel Porto, Surya Prasad Silwal, Chairman, Nepal Insurance Authority, Nepal

• Matthias Range, Executive Director, A2ii

14:20 - 15:00 - Session 1: Foundations of Data-Driven Supervision

A critical perspective on basics of data-driven insurance supervision, including the benefits, challenges, and key principles surrounding Consumer Protection. 

• Gabriel Porto, General Coordinator of Economic Studies, SUSEP, Brazil

• Alastair Norris, Barbara Chesire, Managing Director, AB Entheos Ltd, Kenya

  Moderator: Matthias Range, Executive Director, A2ii

15:30 - 16:00 - Coffee break (during Session 2)

15:00 - 16:30 - Session 2: Advanced Analytics and Practical Applications

How will data in regulatory frameworks turn traditional approaches upside down?

• Alastair Norris, Climate and Disaster Risk Expert, IDF Risk Modelling Steering Group (RMSG), United Kingdom

• Min Hung Cheng, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Global Asia Insurance Partnership

• Moustafa Khalil, Deputy Assistant of the Chairman, FRA, Egypt

  Moderator: Ronaldo Limbago, Regional Coordinator Asia, A2ii

16:30 - 17:20 - Session 3: Collaboration and Future Technologies

• Anuja Jaitly, Global Business Development, Blue Marble, United States

• Kay Tuschen, Head of Climate Resilience Solutions, Celsius Pro, Switzerland

• Gabriel Porto, General Coordinator of Economic Studies, SUSEP, Brazil

  Moderator: Pedro Pinheiro, Project Manager, Microinsurance Network

17:20 - 17:30 - Closing Remarks/ End of Consultative Forum 

Evaluation

Announcements

Virtual Workshops -TBD

Date: 23 October, 11 AM
Parallel session 5 on Creating innovation ecosystems through multi-stakeholder practices – examples and outcomes from four A2ii inclusive insurance innovation labs
Participants will hear from iii-lab alumni about developed prototypes and the long-term impact of the iii-lab in their countries. They will engage in dialogue about the ecosystem needed to enable innovative thinking and a paradigm shift in stakeholders' collaboration.
 

Inclusive Insurance Training

This training programme is offered in partnership with the Toronto Centre and IAIS. The training will take place from the 19th to the 28th November, from 13:00 to 17:00 CET and it will be conducted in English. A mandatory onboarding session will be held on Tuesday, 15 October from 14:00-16:30 CEST.

The training is targeted to entry- to mid- level insurance supervisors and will be held via a blend of online learning modules on the Connect.A2ii learning platform and live sessions on MS Teams.
 

News

A2ii participates in the Working Group “National Policy on Access to Insurance” created by SUSEP

On 13 September, the launch and installation meeting of the Working Group “National Policy for Access to Insurance” took place. The Working Group’s purpose is to discuss and coordinate efforts for the formulation of institutional and market strategies related to the design of the National Policy for Access to Insurance for Brazil.

To this end, a channel for dialogue and the search for consensus was established between insurers, policyholders, other market participants, experts and public authorities, to build alternatives aimed at boosting access to insurance, both quantitatively and qualitatively, to an increasingly wider range of Brazilian citizens and companies.

The Access to Insurance Initiative was invited to join the Working Group, represented by Regina Simões, Regional Coordinator for Latin America, and by Matthias Range, A2ii Executive Director.

The Working Group will last sixty days and will have as its final product a report that will consolidate the diagnosis and conclusions of each of its thematic subgroups.

Guatemala’s Insurance Technical Working Group (MTTS) to Adopt A2ii FeMa Meter

On 21 June 2024, the Financial Inclusion Commission (COMIF) of Guatemala launched the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (ENIF) 2024-2027, which aims to continue the efforts of the public and private sectors in terms of financial inclusion. It also established the following general objective for the thematic area of insurance: "Promote access to and use of insurance for all segments of the population according to their needs."

The Insurance Technical Working Group (MTTS) - coordinated by the Superintendency of Banks and composed of the Bank of Guatemala, the Ministry of Economy and national public and private strategic actors - is the responsible for carrying out the activities that will contribute to the achievement of this objective, as well as other specific goals, such as: financial education on insurance; evaluation of insurance products; non-traditional distribution channels; and indicators.

The MTTS is currently taking the first steps to collect sex-disaggregated industry data. With support from the Access to Insurance Initiative, it is adopting the ‘FeMa Meter’, A2ii’s tool for collecting and assessing sex-disaggregated data that compares differences between men and women on insurance indicators on “market access and use” and “governance”.
 

Nepal Insurance Authority adopts the A2ii FeMa Meter to collect sex-disaggregated data

Nepal Insurance Authority (NIA) has initiated the first effort to collect sex-disaggregated data using the newly launched A2ii FeMa-Meter.

This marks an important step towards the availability of sex-disaggregated insurance data. As the NIA takes charge of this process, it aims to close key gaps in understanding how insurance needs differ between women and men. Currently, sex-disaggregated data in the insurance sector is limited and by leading the way in data collection, the NIA is setting the foundation for more informed decision-making in policy and insurance offerings. This will not only drive financial inclusion but also strengthen the resilience of underserved groups across the country.
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The FeMa-Meter was launched earlier this year and was developed with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

We look forward to the insights this data will provide and the innovations it will inform for a more inclusive and equitable insurance market in the adopting countries.
 

Recent Events

A2ii at the Plenary Meetings of the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) 3rd Plenary Session | 25-27 September in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) is an international platform that aims to advance financial inclusion worldwide. It was launched in 2010 by the G20, to address the challenges and opportunities of financial inclusion in developing and emerging economies. It brings together various stakeholders, including governments, central banks, international organizations and development agencies.

In 2024, plenary meetings were held under the Brazilian G20 Presidency. The 3rd and final plenary meeting took place in Rio de Janeiro from September 25-27. The premise of the Brazilian G20 Presidency is “Building a just world and a sustainable planet”. For that, it is necessary not only to continue to advance access and usage of financial services, but also to improve and increase the quality of financial inclusion and on financial well-being. 

On the 26th, the GPFI welcomed Queen Máxima of Netherlands for her first official appearance as the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA). During the session, Queen Máxima took part in a high-level debate on last mile financial inclusion and financial wellbeing, in which she referred to the role of insurance.

Among the GPFI deliveries for 2024, the following stand out:

• Policy Note on Financial Wellbeing, a Brazilian Presidency priority, that includes a definition and measurement tools for financial well-being to guide future financial inclusion efforts.

• New G20 Action Plan on MSME Finance, to help MSMEs get the funding they need, including utilizing digital tools.

• Guidance Note on Policy Options to Improve Last Mile Access and Quality Inclusion through Digital Infrastructure, including DPI, Consumer Protection and other FIAP Objectives.

A2ii representatives at GPFI, Matthias Range, Executive Director, and Regina Simões, Regional Coordinator for Latin America, acknowledged the hard work carried out by the GPFI subcommittees in preparing the papers and welcomed the inclusion of references to insurance in them.

The plenary sessions concluded with the presentation of the two priorities of the next GPFI Presidency under South Africa, which are: 

1) Moving from Access to Usage, and 

2) Remittances.

The GPFI/G20 plenary meetings were preceded on September 25th by the side event “The Journey of Financial Inclusion: from Access to Financial Well-being”, co-organized by the Central Bank, the Gates Foundation and the Center for Studies in Microfinance and Financial Inclusion of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FVG), which took place at the FGV headquarters. The discussions and presentations focused on the use of financial services by the low-income population, the importance of competition for financial inclusion, practical examples of quality in financial inclusion, and public policies for financial well-being.

Capacity building for insurance supervisors: leveraging actuarial skills | 17-20 September 2024 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Supervisors from 16 countries across Asia came together in Kuala Lumpur to learn about key topics like Enterprise Risk Management, Valuation and Actuarial Reports, which are essential for assessing the financial health of insurers, and understanding the reasons for insurer distress, such as poor risk management or inadequate capital reserves. The interactive sessions, case studies, and group activities set the stage for an enriching learning experience.

With 7 expert trainers, the training was held by the A2ii in collaboration with the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), International Actuarial Association (IAA), and ASEAN Insurance Training and Research Institute (AITRI), in partnership with Bank Negara Malaysia. Learn more about the training on our website.

FeMa Meter Training | 16 August

On August 16, the Training on the use of the FeMa Meter tool for insurance supervisors in Latin America was held, jointly organised by A2ii and the Association of Insurance Supervisors of Latin America (ASSAL), with the support of its Inclusive Insurance Working Group.

The topic was initially presented at the bilateral meeting between A2ii-IAIS and the ASSAL Board of Directors that took place during the ASSAL Annual Conference in Montevideo last May. Subsequently, a virtual meeting was organised to present the FeMa Meter to ASSAL members, in addition to a series of bilateral meetings to clarify doubts at the request of supervisors.

The FeMa-Meter is an MS Excel-based tool for collecting and reviewing gender-disaggregated data that compares differences between men and women on several indicators. It integrates the most common indicators, measured in two categories: 

1) access to insurance and use; and 
2) organisational diversity.

A total of 46 supervisors from 5 countries participated in the training. So far, supervisors from Costa Rica (SUGESE) and Guatemala (SIB) have already confirmed initiatives to adopt the FeMa Meter in their jurisdictions. This will allow them to raise awareness of gender issues and respond to the specific insurance needs of women, both for the provision of traditional insurance and inclusive insurance, leading to a more developed and inclusive insurance industry in their countries. It is worth noting that women represent a business opportunity that is still largely unexplored. According to International Finance Corporation estimates, insurance businesses targeting women could reach $1.5 trillion by 2030.
 

Staff Updates

Renata De Leers has joined A2ii as Regional Coordinator for MENA and CIMA. She brings a wealth of experience, spanning over forty years, as a global actuary. She has spent more than thirty years honing her expertise in the unique contexts of the Middle East and Africa, offering a global perspective and diverse insights.
She works for various stakeholders, from the supervisor to the consumer, addressing regulatory, actuarial, operational, and educational aspects for insurers, social security institutions, and pension funds. She assists insurance supervisors in drafting and implementing regulatory frameworks for conventional, Islamic, inclusive insurance, index-based insurance, and sandboxes.

Asmaa Jabri has joined as an Advisor, contributing to multiple portfolios of A2ii, including Climate & Disaster Risk, Inclusive Insurance Fundamentals, and Gender. Prior to A2ii, Asmaa served as the Director of Prudential Control of Insurance and Advisor to the Chairman at the Supervisory Authority of Insurance and Social Welfare (ACAPS) in Morocco from 2019 to 2023. In this role, she led the transformation of management practices, established control plans, and contributed to studies on climate risks and cyber security in the insurance sector. Asmaa's extensive experience includes heading the Risk-Based Solvency project at ACAPS, where she directed the design of a risk-based prudential framework. Her career spans over two decades in the insurance industry, where she held various leadership roles in actuarial, risk management, and internal audit functions across multiple insurance companies. She holds a Risk Management Expertise (ERM) & Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst (CERA) credential from the French Institute of Actuaries (Paris) and completed a second-year master's program in statistics and stochastic models at The University of Rennes. Asmaa is fluent in French and English.

Titus Kabamba Nkwale has joined A2ii as Regional Coordinator for Sub-Saharan Africa. He has two decades of insurance and pensions supervisory experience, encompassing junior, middle management and leadership roles. During this period, he had the privilege of contributing to the work and aims of the Southern Africa regional body for non-bank financial supervisory authorities – the Committee of Insurance, Securities and Non-Bank Financial Authorities (CISNA), serving as Chairperson of Insurance Retirement Funds Medical Aid Funds, and Financial Intermediaries Sub- Committee (IRMIS), from 2017 to 2020. Before joining the pensions and insurance supervisory authority in Zambia, Titus held accounting and auditing roles in an audit firm for 2 years. 

Index Insurance Insights

Learn about index insurance in our free training and obtain the A2ii-UNCDF Certificate on Index Insurance for Supervisors. Exclusively designed for insurance supervisors, this certification offers comprehensive insights into index insurance mechanisms. Ready to take the next step? Enrol now on A2ii’s learning platform, Connect.A2ii.

For all other stakeholders not in supervisory roles, access our open version of the training on our website.
 

Insurance Core Principles Self-Assessment Tool 

Have you tried the SAT tool yet? The Insurance Core Principles Self-Assessment Tool is a joint initiative of the IAIS and the A2ii designed to facilitate the assessment of the level of observance of the ICPs. Leveraging the analytical framework of the Peer Review Process, it empowers supervisors to evaluate adherence to these essential principles. 

How it works: 

1. Supervisors can access the tool through the dedicated platform. Once on the platform, they can navigate through a series of questionnaires tailored to each ICP. 

2. The questionnaires are crafted to cover various aspects of each principle, providing a comprehensive evaluation framework. Supervisors can respond to these questions based on their assessment of their jurisdiction’s practices and policies. 

3. Upon completing a questionnaire, supervisors receive immediate feedback. These results offer insights into the level of observance of the assessed ICP, enabling supervisors to identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. 

We encourage all supervisors to explore this resource and its potential to drive positive change within the insurance landscape.

Trainings

Self-directed training

Supervision of climate-related risks in the insurance sector

Applying a gender lens to inclusive insurance

How to conduct a rapid gender diversity assessment

Index Insurance Training for All Stakeholders
 

Are you an insurance supervisor? Then join Connect.A2ii - our learning platform restricted to supervisors offering free and certified courses and an opportunity to learn from peers.

Useful Tools on Our Website

Inclusive Insurance Regulations Map

The interactive map incorporates data about existing inclusive insurance regulation and regulation which supports inclusive insurance sourced through A2ii's research, work and interaction with supervisory authorities worldwide. 

ICP Self-assessment Tool

The tool is intended to help supervisors assess the level of observance of the Insurance Core Principles (ICPs).

 Supervisory KPIs Lexicon

Interactive, searchable directory of KPIs for insurance supervisors across four pillars: prudential soundness, market conduct, insurance market development and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Insurance and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The SDG pages include resources on the importance and the role of insurance across nine SDGs: 01 No Poverty, 10 Reduced Inequalities, 02 Zero Hunger, 03 Good Health and Well-being, 05 Gender Equality, 08 Decent Work and Economic Growth, 09 Industry Innovation and Infrastructure, 13 Climate Change and 17 Partnerships for the Goals.