Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSD Africa) and Access to Insurance Initiative (A2ii) have signed a new partnership, designed to accelerate the growth of sub-Saharan Africa’s insurance market.

Insurance penetration in sub-Saharan Africa is currently at 2.9% with penetration rates for life and non-life insurance the lowest in the world (FSD Africa, 2016). Insurance companies have historically struggled to reach consumers across the region, because of four main barriers: low consumer income levels, lack of distribution infrastructure, limited skills and restrictive regulation.

The new partnership between FSD Africa and A2ii aims to address historic barriers to insurance market development by providing regulators with the information, guidance and skills they need.

Juliet Munro, Director of Financial Systems at FSD Africa commented, “We believe insurance is a vital tool to protect households from falling into poverty, to provide businesses with the security they need to grow and prosper and to contribute long-term finance for economic growth. Our new partnership with A2ii will accelerate the growth of inclusive insurance markets – helping to provide insurers, governments and regulators with the tools and insights they need to develop.”

Peter Braumüller, Chair of the A2ii Governing Council commented, “This partnership formalises and strengthens the future cooperation between the A2ii and the FSD Africa, and we are looking forward to building on it in pursuance of inclusive insurance market development in sub-Saharan Africa.”

The new partnership will leverage A2ii’s global implementation partnership with the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) and FSD Africa’s regional mandate to develop insurance markets in sub-Saharan Africa.

The initial scope and principles of the partnership include:

• Publishing joint research that addresses challenges with regulating for emerging business models and protecting policyholders;
• Co-hosting capacity building forums for key market regulators;
• Producing key training toolkits for regulators to support inclusive insurance markets;
• Supporting insurance supervisors with reports and market analysis; and
• Providing thematic and market-level evidence and guidance.

For more information on FSD Africa’s work and partnerships on insurance through the Risk, Remittances and Integrity Programme, click here.