Z Zurich Foundation provides $2.8M to ILO’s micro-insurance fund

By Nagesh Narayana

Microfinance Focus, Jan 30, 2010: Zurich Financial Services Group (Zurich) has announced that its Z Zurich Foundation will support the International Labour Organization (ILO)’s Microinsurance Innovation Facility with a contribution of CHF 3 million (US$2.83 million) to facilitate innovative approaches to provide better insurance cover to low-income people.

The facility will provide grants to organizations involved in microinsurance. The grant applications will be reviewed using the facility’s existing selection process and the best 5 to 7 projects selected will be closely monitored over a 3 to 4-year period. Results and learnings will be widely disseminated to assure the broadest possible usage of the gained insights.

The Z Zurich Foundation aims to equip people with the knowledge and resources to better manage change and risk in their lives and in the world around them. On a strategic level it develops long-term partnerships with selected Non-Profit Organizations. The Foundation’s focus is on the inter-linked challenges of climate change, water scarcity, food security and economic development, combining Zurich’s global experience and risk management capabilities with the Non-Profit Organizations’ local knowledge and sustainable development expertise. Current partners are UK-based Practical Action, US-based Rainforest Alliance, and the Swiss-based International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

One of the major focus areas of microinsurance services is on streamlining and/or eliminating scale and efficiency challenges, specifically:
a) the enrolment and premium collection from persons in remote areas and /or who may not have bank accounts,
b) the management of large numbers of small policies and small claims, and
c) the integration of multiple actors who work together to provide the insurance service.

“We believe it’s critical to our long-term business success to play our part in delivering sustainable, long-lasting solutions to important and relevant economic, social and environmental challenges. In these difficult times of market recovery, it is important to underpin our commitment to corporate responsibility and actively support the development of better insurance services for the less fortunate”, said Martin Senn, Zurich’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Foundation’s Board.

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