Monday, December 12, 2016

What we read at the MIC this week

In Thailand, $3 a Month Could Boost Migrant Health
Dreamlopments is developing a microinsurance product to address health needs of border migrants in Thailand, mainly from Burma (Myanmar).


Farmers' rainfall reports agree with index insurance satellite data 
A blog post from Daniel Osgood, Lead Scientist - Financial Instruments Sector Team at Columbia University IRI, on comparing data from farmers and satellites when developing index insurance.


Proportionate Regulatory Frameworks in Inclusive Insurance: Lessons from a Decade of Microinsurance Regulation In this publication, the Access to Insurance Initiative (a2ii) looks back at supervisory approaches to microinsurance since 2005, identifying key lessons and discussing current and future challenges.  

Friday, October 28, 2016

We're back! What we read at the MIC this week!

Government to Person Transfers: On-ramp to Financial Inclusion? 

  • In this study, Guy Stuart, CFI Fellow and Executive Director of Microfinance Opportunities, set out to explore G2P transfers as an on-ramp to use of formal financial services and ultimately increased financial inclusion. Read the full report to learn more, but basically he found that G2P programs were not achieving this - though there exist missed opportunities. For example, the relationships with financial service providers were not maximized; a space where microinsurance could potentially fit in. See Stuart's recommendations for governments towards the end of the paper.  

Over 40 million mobile insurance clients today in region

  • The Microinsurance Network and the Munich Re Foundation carried out a landscape study on mobile insurance in Asia. MNOs are becoming an increasingly popular distribution channel for microinsurance products not only in Asia, but in other regions such as Africa. The results of this study will be presented at the 12th International Microinsurance Conference coming up November 15 - 17 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.   

The uberization of insurance

  • Robin Smith, CEO of WeGoLook, offers her perspectives on where she believes the insurance industry is headed. She comments on the "gig economy", mobile technology, data gathering, and more in this short but enjoyable post from Insurance Thought Leadership.

Big data for small policies

  • What does big data mean for the microinsurance space? There is great potential but many challenges in obtaining data on low-income populations. Mobile datasets can be an answer, but do they provide an accurate picture and are they easily accessible? 

Friday, April 8, 2016

What we read at the MIC this week

  • Key regulator workshop to drive the development of insurance markets for the poor 
    • The workshop took place 5 - 7 April and was attended by supervisors from central banks, insurance commissions and private insurance companies from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Timor Leste, Tonga and Vanuatu. "A first of its kind, the workshop is focused on encouraging and inspiring insurance regulators and supervisors to design, develop and implement policies and frameworks to permit and encourage the growth of inclusive insurance markets and the supply of more affordable insurance products that are targeted at lower income people and communities".
  • Insurance company drops 'discriminatory' policy on suicide attempts
    • Desjardins Group sets an example for both the traditional and microinsurance industries by dropping this discriminatory exclusion from their policy. "The only ethical course is to give people who have self-harmed the same support a person would get who is harmed by any other means. If not, I hope that companies who care for all of their employees will vote with their feet and take their business elsewhere".
  • Barclays, Techstars select 10 startups for Cape Town accelerator 
    • Tanzanian company and microinsurance platform Edgepoint selected as one of 10 companies chosen for the accelerator program. Edgepoint projects include bimaAFYA and bimaSHAMBA, a micro-health product and agri-expert IVR product respectively. 
  • Is there a business case for microinsurance in Africa?
    •  A blog post which gives an in-depth overview of Module 2 of the Expert Forum Series on Microinsurance in Africa which took place on 24 March. The 3rd and final module of this series will take place on 14 April - you can register here

Friday, February 26, 2016

What we read at MIC this week

Monday, February 22, 2016

Landscape Trivia: Microinsurance in Africa

Friday, January 15, 2016

What we read at MIC this week

Links to some interesting reads:

  •  Tech Relief for the High Cost of Field Research
    • The MicroInsurance Centre is managing this client-centered research project working with Crezcamos MFI in rural Colombia. The purpose is to see whether receiving an Ag insurance product bundled with the loan or receiving it separately after loan approval leads to take up or differences in understanding a product. Read more here.  
  • Drones to assess crop loss under new insurance policy
    • The New Crop Insurance Scheme (NCIS) for farmers in India is set to be approved next week by the Cabinet. This will entail drones being deployed to assess crop damage. Among other goals, this scheme will aim to keep premium rates lower than the existing program. Read more here.  
  • Monitoring hazards from the sky
    • The Disaster Risk and Exposure Assessment for Mitigation (DREAM) program in the Philippines, which started in 2012, is currently using laser scanners inside of airplanes to create hazard maps and a flood advisory system. This will facilitate the development of of new strategies for disaster risk management. Read more here.  
  • Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena wins 2016 Pritzker prize
    • “One of the biggest mistakes that architects make is that they tend to deal with problems that only interest other architects,”...“The biggest challenge is to engage with the important non-architectural issues – poverty, pollution, congestion, segregation – and apply our specific knowledge. It’s not enough to raise awareness. I want people to leave with more tools. We must share the challenges so we are aware of the coming battles.” - Aravena. Read more here
  • Credit shield insurance - piloting microinsurance products in Bangladesh
    • BRAC offers the Credit Shield Insurance as an opt-in product for its microfinance borrowers. Though making clients aware and comfortable with this product was a challenge, it was found that "investing in BRAC's human relationships was the most effective in earning clients' confidence". Read more here
      investing in BRAC’s human relationships was the most effective in earning clients’ confidence - See more at: http://blog.brac.net/2016/01/credit-shield-insurance-piloting-microinsurance-products-in-bangladesh/#sthash.8gakxbzU.dpuf
      investing in BRAC’s human relationships was the most effective in earning clients’ confidence - See more at: http://blog.brac.net/2016/01/credit-shield-insurance-piloting-microinsurance-products-in-bangladesh/#sthash.8gakxbzU.dpuf
      investing in BRAC’s human relationships was the most effective in earning clients’ confidence - See more at: http://blog.brac.net/2016/01/credit-shield-insurance-piloting-microinsurance-products-in-bangladesh/#sthash.8gakxbzU.dpuf
  • Microinsurance is the answer to the insurance industry
    •  A critique of the current system of insurance in the U.S. and a proposal of why and how it should change..."Leveraging microinsurance, fintech startups will take the lead not just in rethinking this antiquated insurance system, but also creating completely new kinds of insurance the will meet the dynamic needs of millennials". Read more here

Monday, December 14, 2015

What we read at MIC this week

Links to interesting reads!