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Symposium 2012

Insurance for Development - Protecting Emerging Economies and their People in a Climate of Change

On 19th of January 2012, Dr. Kloppenburg , Member of the Board of Managing Directors of KfW, opened KfW's 10th Financial Sector Development Symposium at KfW's Berlin branch. The focus of the high-level event was "Insurance for Development - Protecting Emerging Economies and their People in a Climate of Change". More than 100 leading experts from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, America and Europe representing the insurance and re-insurance industry, financial institutions, governments and academia joined the two day meeting to discuss the potentials and the challenges of insurance. The thematic sessions and discussions focused on what insurance can contribute to meeting the pressing global challenges of climate change, food security and demographic change in developing and transition countries.

The symposium was supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The Asian Development Bank supported the symposium as a long-standing partner of KfW.

As in the previous years, the Symposium was opened by BMZ and KfW jointly.

Ms. Bögemann-Hagedorn held the opening speech on behalf of Federal Minister Dirk Niebel . She seized the opportunity to present the perspective of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) on insurance. Ms. Bögemann-Hagedorn highlighted that insurance had moved to the center of attention of the G20 and many national policy-makers. The access to affordable insurance that meets the needs of low income households has become an important aspect of the financial inclusion agenda.

Ms. Bögemann-Hagedorn emphasized that insurance had the potential to be an important tool for poverty alleviation and the promotion of development at individual and national level. But she also pointed out that currently only three per cent of the population in the one hundred poorest countries is protected by insurance.

Ms. Bögemann-Hagedorn encouraged development partnerships between the public and private sector calling insurance 'an excellent example where we need partnerships - partnerships between governments and the private sector and assistance from Development Cooperation to develop the market.

Dr. Kloppenburg approached the insurance topic from a personal perspective. He discussed the role of insurance products in everyday life. While for women and men in developed countries insurance solutions are a standard instrument of protection, most people in developing countries are not familiar with the concept of insurance as appropriate insurance solutions are not available. Despite the low insurance penetration in developing countries Dr. Kloppenburg highlighted a positive trend: In recent years the diversity and volume of insurance had grown steadily.

He attributed this positive trend to three important developments. First of all, an increasing number of local financial institutions has started to serve as sales partners of insurance providers. Secondly, international insurance companies have piloted insurance products tailored to the needs of clients in developing countries. Also, insurance companies have successfully developed and implemented new forms of insurance like index based insurance. Dr. Kloppenburg expressed the hope that the Financial Sector Symposium would help make progress in the endeavor to improve access to insurance and to reduce the poverty vulnerability in developing countries.

A keynote speech introduced each of the first five thematic sessions of the symposium:

1. Insurance in developing economies –role and relevance for development
2. Climate change – risk management solutions for developing economies
3. Promoting food security in a volatile climate: the role of insurance
4. Meeting the challenges of demographic change: pension and insurance for ageing populations in developing economies
5. Realizing the "Demographic Dividend" in young developing countries: the role of contractual savings and insurance for financing education
6. Reflection of key findings and issues – summary and outlook

FURTHER INFORMATION

• Concept Paper (PDF, 52 KB, non-accessible)
• Agenda (PDF, 138 KB, non-accessible)
• List of Participants (PDF, 112 KB, non-accessible)
• List of Institutions (PDF, 103 KB, non-accessible)
• Full List of Biographies (PDF, 218 KB, non-accessible)

Last updated: January 2012