Innovation can enable insurance to become a powerful engine of growth and development across the continent, but achieving this requires that market players and regulators work together to build an ecosystem in which responsible innovation can thrive. For regulators, doing so means not only understanding the current state of innovation but also the barriers within the local context and the range of tools they can wield to overcome these challenges. These tools extend beyond regulation, also encompassing supervisory processes, systems and, crucially, market engagement. With this foundation, a regulating-for-innovation action plan can be developed.

FSD Africa’s Risk, Resilience, and Regulatory Lab – R3Lab works to create an enabling regulatory environment for innovation by supporting regulators on their journey to regulate and promote innovation, and by facilitating interactions between insurance regulators in Africa. As input to the R3Lab’s work, Cenfri evaluated the state of innovation in eight Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, identified barriers to further innovation, and provided tailored recommendations for each country through a series of R3Lab insurance innovation country portraits and a cross-country synthesis note. We are also supporting R3Lab’s collaboration with supervisors from a sub-set of countries to advance their action plans.

Building on the lessons learned and extensive engagements with supervisors, this toolkit:

(1) Outlines the steps and learnings for regulators to conduct an innovation gap assessment

(2) Offers a taxonomy of tools to facilitate innovation

(3) Serves as a practical guide for selecting and combining these tools into concrete activities within an innovation action plan

(4) Establishes a key performance indicator (KPI) framework to effectively monitor the progress of the innovation action plan.