Digital financial services are increasingly seen as a way to address the high transaction costs impeding scale and access in financial services. There is growing interest in how digitisation could impact microinsurance, whether through distribution, scale, collections, or improving the efficiency of the value chain. Digital microinsurance is generally broader and more encompassing than mobile microinsurance (MMI or m-insurance) which places a greater focus on the mobile device.

This report looks at digital microinsurance (the use of technology in microinsurance) and mobile insurance (insurance sold through and with mobile network operators) and provides an overview of developments in this sector to assess whether digital microinsurance can provide the growth injection that the microinsurance market needs to manage the risk of low-income individuals, as well as the institutions that serve them.