WB lauds global insurance resiliency

MANILA, Philippines - The World Bank is excited over the growing partnership with private insurance and government sectors on poverty reduction efforts.

During the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) meeting held recently in Singapore, World Bank Group representative Samuel Munzele Maimbo said it has become increasingly apparent that without the right risk management tools, a lot of work on poverty reduction an shared prosperity would be in vain.

“People get pulled back into poverty for a long period of time, simply because of one or two risk events that take place,” Maimbo said.

The World Bank is very excited with the partnership. It is a unique opportunity to partner with the United Nations and also with the private sector, which brings tools and resources that are just not available in the public sector at the scale that is needed, he said.

He cited the example of risk modeling.

“Certainly the World Bank and other institutions can help mobilize resources to pay for these things, but there’s really no need to invent some of these models when the private sector has been using them for quite some time.”    

Quentin Coolen from the United Nations Development Program was quoted as having said the international community and the insurance industry need each other.

“We face some of the same problems. We want to address these global threats brought by climate change and the impact of natural hazards. It is a massive challenge that we need to confront together,” Coolen said.

There is growing international recognition that the insurance industry has a key role to play in building global resilience.

And through a multi-stakeholder public/private partnership approach led by the insurance industry and supported by international organizations, the insurance sector can serve society more effectively and help overcome some of the world’s key challenges,

The IDF, with the mission of “Understanding Risk to Create Resilient Platforms for Sustainable Growth & Human Dignity”, is a public/private partnership, which has the overall objective to optimize and extend the use of insurance-related capabilities to protect vulnerable populations, companies and public institutions against risks and shocks. It is governed by a steering committee, chaired by Stephen Catlin, representing the insurance industry, and co-chaired by the UN and the World Bank.