Microinsurance – Distribution approaches that reach the poor

Working poor live with substantial risk and face devastating circumstances when those risks become reality. Global insurance markets have ample capital - both financial and intellectual - to ultimately insure the assets and income of the working poor. Nonetheless, demand and supply are not adequately aligned; huge numbers of families who most need appropriate insurance remain without the opportunity to buy, while insurers are continually searching for the cost effective and suitable ways to expand into untapped market segments. Increasingly, new methods of distributing and offering insurance are proving successful. These include via mobile phone, through supply chains of global corporations, with informal "agents", and even as lottery tickets.
 
Brandon Mathews is a Board Member of the Microinsurance Network and facilitates its Distribution Working Group. He is also on the board of the ILO’s Microinsurance Innovation Facility and is the former Head of Emerging Consumer / Microinsurance at Zurich Insurance Group. Mr. Mathews shared his insights on innovative microinsurance distribution models at the seventh Microfinance Lunch Break on October 19 in Brussels.

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