This document presents the synthesis findings from of a five-country (Colombia, India, Philippines, South Africa and Uganda) case study on the role of regulation in the development of microinsurance markets.

Members of Cenfri managed the project and supported the development of the case studies as part of a Genesis Analytics team on behalf of the FinMark Trust. We participated directly in the development of the South African and Ugandan case studies.

Click here to download the synthesis document: (PDF: 2MB)

Click here to download the executive summary and guidlines: (PDF: 2.7MB)

Click here to download thematic focus notes in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish 

Reference this document as: Bester, H., Chamberlain, D., Hougaard, C., 2008. Making insurance markets work for the poor: Policy, regulation and supervision: Evidence from Five Country Case Studies. Cenfri research document prepared for the CGAP Working Group on Microinsurance.

It must be emphasized that these findings do not provide an easy recipe for developing microinsurance but only identifies some of the key issues that need to be considered. In fact, the findings emphasize the need for a comprehensive approach informed by and tailored to domestic conditions and adjusted continuously as the environment evolves.

The project was majority funded by the Canadian International Development Research Centre (www.idrc.ca) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (www.gatesfoundation.org) along with funding and technical support from the South Africa-based FinMark Trust (www.finmarktrust.org.za)  and the German GTZ  (www.gtz.de) and BMZ  (www.bmz.de). FinMark Trust was contracted to design and manage the project. Together with representatives of the IAIS, the Microinsurance Centre and the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF) the funders are represented on an advisory committee overseeing the study. The project was undertaken under the guidance of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) and Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) Joint Working Group on Microinsurance.

The policy, regulation and supervision guidelines emerging from the cross-country analysis are:

Policy guidelines:

• Guideline 1: Take active steps to develop a microinsurance market.

• Guideline 2: Adopt a policy on microinsurance as part of the broader goal of financial inclusion.

Prudential guidelines

• Guideline 3: Define a microinsurance product category.

• Guideline 4: Tailor regulation to the risk character of the microinsurance product category.

• Guideline 5: Allow microinsurance underwriting by multiple entities.

• Guideline 6: Provide a path for formalisation.

Market conduct guidelines

• Guideline 7: Create a flexible regime for the distribution of microinsurance.

• Guideline 8: Facilitate the active selling of microinsurance.

Supervision and enforcement

• Guideline 9: Monitor market developments and respond with appropriate regulatory adjustments.

• Guideline 10: Use market capacity to support supervision in low-risk areas.

Authors of synthesis document:

• Hennie Bester
• Doubell Chamberlain
• Christine Hougaard
  

We would also like to thank the members of the advisory committee for their comments on the draft document and their engagement and guidance throughout the study:

• Jeremy Leach (FinMark Trust)

• Arup Chatterjee (IAIS)

• Craig Churchill (ILO)

• Tammy Durbin (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)

• Brigitte Klein (GTZ)

• Michael McCord (Microinsurance Centre)

• Martha Melesse (IDRC)

• Craig Thorburn (World Bank)

• Sabir Patel (ICMIF)

• Martina Wiedmaier-Pfister (GTZ)

The individual country case studies are available here:

Colombia (PDF, 2.9Mb) 

Reference this document as: Cáceres, M., Zuluaga, S., 2008. Making insurance markets work for the poor: Policy, regulation and Supervision: Colombia case study. PrimAmérica research paper prepare for the CGAP Working Group on Microinsurance.

India (PDF, 4.2Mb)

Reference this document as: Sinha, S., Sagar, S., 2008. Making insurance markets work for the poor: Policy, regulation and supervision: India case study. M-CRIL research document prepared for the CGAP Working Group on Microinsurance.

Philippines (PDF, 2.4Mb)

Reference this document as: Llanto, G., Geron, M.P., Almario, J., 2008. Making insurance markets work for the poor: Policy, regulation and supervision: Philippines case study. RIMANSI research document prepared for the CGAP Working Group on Microinsurance.

South Africa (PDF, 2.2Mb)

Reference this document as: Bester, H., Chamberlain, D., Hendrie, S., Hobden, T., Hougaard, C., Smith, A., 2008. Making insurance markets work for the poor: Policy, regulation and supervision: South Africa Case Study. Genesis research document prepared for the CGAP Working Group on Microinsurance.

Uganda (PDF, 1.7Mb)