Microinsurance is becoming an increasingly important item on the agenda of supervisors globally.

The 16th Annual IAIS conference was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 21 – 24 October 2009. Emerging markets make up the bulk of the IAIS membership and have been catalytic in placing the issues of developing countries on the agenda of the IAIS. Demonstrating the growing importance of microinsurance and market development to the membership of the IAIS, the theme of this conference was “Insurance as a Means of Socio-Economic Development” and the opening plenary was dedicated to the topic of microinsurance.

Presentations were made by Cenfri, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India and Fasecolda (the Colombian insurance industry association).