Insurance Development Forum
Insurance Development Forum
Insurance Development Forum

GRMA Costa Rica – Using Risk Modelling and Analytics for Risk Transfer

Costa Rica’s financial institutions come together to further develop their capabilities and application of climate and disaster risk analysis for financial and insurance solutions. Six months after the last workshop under the implementation phase of the Global Risk Modelling Alliance (GRMA) programme in Costa Rica, an additional Capability Development Workshop led by the GRMA team […]

From Protection Gap to Insurability: Building Africa’s Next Generation of Resilience

By Ekhosuehi Iyahen, Secretary General, Insurance Development Forum (IDF) and Hope Murera, Managing Director and Group CEO, ZEP-RE (PTA Reinsurance Company) 1 Africa’s greatest resilience challenge is not the absence of insurance. It is the absence of insurability at scale. Across the continent, households, farmers, small businesses and even strategic public infrastructure remain exposed to […]

Video: Interview with Isaac Magina, Manager, Agriculture Underwriting & Marketing at Africa Re

For Isaac Magina, Manager, Agriculture Underwriting & Marketing at Africa Re, innovation and partnership are key to helping close Africa’s protection gap. As part of the underwriting team working on Lagos State’s disaster risk financing project under the IDF-UNDP-BMZ Tripartite Programme, Africa Re helped develop an innovative solution designed to strengthen the state’s financial resilience. […]

Which Insights Did The IDF Summit 2026 Deliver?

A most valuable element of this year’s Insurance Development Forum (IDF) Summit was hearing the voices from senior country government representatives invited by IDF public sector partners. Along with a broad range of IDF members and partners from the public and private sectors, their presence enabled a realistic and honest dialogue when looking to identify […]

Video: Interview with Evah Kimani, Chief Executive Officer and Principal Officer at Britam Connect

Turning complex risks into practical solutions takes bold thinking – and bold collaboration. That’s the message from Evah Kimani, Chief Executive Officer and Principal Officer at Britam Connect, reflecting on the importance of collaboration through IDRIMA – the partnership between Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the Insurance Development Forum (IDF). By bringing together governments, […]

Video: Interview with Luis Ricardo Ureña Ureña, Insurance and Asset Risk Coordinator at the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity

How can public institutions unlock insurance expertise to strengthen resilience before disasters strike? For Luis Ricardo Ureña Ureña, Insurance and Asset Risk Coordinator at the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE), the answer lies in partnership. Through IDRIMA – the partnership between Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) – ICE […]

Patrick Tiernan’s Opening Remarks at IDF Summit 2026

Patrick Tiernan, Lloyd’s of London CEO & IDF Steering Committee Member, was the Keynote Speaker at the opening of the Insurance Development Forum Summit 2026 in Lloyds’ iconic underwriting room on the 10th of June. Here is his opening speech in full: Good evening, and welcome to Lloyd’s. It is a pleasure to have you […]

Inclusive Insurance at Scale: Garance Wattez-Richard on the IDF at 10 Years

As the Insurance Development Forum marks its 10-year anniversary, inclusive insurance has moved from the margins to the core of the global resilience conversation. Here, Garance Wattez-Richard, CEO of AXA EssentiALL, member of the IDF Operating Committee and co-chair of the IDF Inclusive Insurance Working Group, shares her perspective on how collaboration across the industry […]

World Health Day 2026: Formalising Solidarity in Health Financing for the African Continent

By Ekhosuehi Iyahen, Secretary General of the Insurance Development Forum and Pedro Pinheiro, Coordinator of IDF Inclusive Insurance Working Group (IIWG) & Sovereign and Humanitarian Solutions Working Group (SHS). As the global community marks World Health Day 2026 under the theme “Together for health. Stand with science.”, we propose a collaborative solution to a fundamental […]

Increasing Insurability to Help Close Protection Gaps: Key Takeaways

Overview On 10th March 2026, the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) convened senior leaders from the insurance industry, regulators, and public-sector institutions at the London Stock Exchange to advance practical solutions for increasing the insurability of natural catastrophe risks in emerging and developing economies. The discussions reinforced a central conclusion: increasing insurability is a necessary condition […]

IDF Reflections on the Insurance Development Forum 10-Year Anniversary 2025 Annual Review

Reflections on the Insurance Development Forum 10-Year Anniversary 2025 Annual Review

By Ekhosuehi Iyahen Secretary General, IDF & Ivo Menzinger Chair, Operating Committee, IDF Ten years ago, the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) was founded on a radical conviction: that insurance—properly mobilised through public-private partnerships—can be an important contributor to stability and economic development. In our recently published 2025 Annual Review the data proves that the conviction […]

Shaping Tomorrow Together: Accra Urban Flooding Risk Transfer Project

As part of the Insurance Development Forum’s 10th Anniversary campaign, we are spotlighting in-country achievements. For this edition, we spoke with Yussel De Kraa, Senior Client Manager for the Middle East & Africa in Swiss Re’s Public Sector Solutions team, and Franziska Wasserhess, Senior Sustainability Manager at Allianz, about their work on the groundbreaking Accra […]

Dr Corneille Karekezi, Managing Director and CEO of Africa Re on the IDF at 10 Years

Dr Corneille Karekezi

African perspectives on risk, resilience and insurance are centrally important to the work of the IDF. In this 10-year anniversary reflections interview, Dr Corneille Karekezi, Group Managing Director and CEO of the African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re), shares his insights after joining the IDF Steering Committee in 2025. Drawing on more than three decades of […]

Michel Liès on the Insurance Development Forum at its 10 Year-Anniversary

Michel Liès

As the Insurance Development Forum marks its 10-year anniversary, we speak with Michel M. Liès, Chair of the IDF Steering Committee, about the organisation’s evolution from an ideas-led initiative into a global delivery platform – and about how it can continue shaping resilience through the use of insurance capabilities. Drawing on decades of leadership in […]

Embedding Resilience into Development: Achim Steiner Reflects on the IDF’s First Decade

As the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) marks its tenth anniversary, it does so against a backdrop of escalating disaster risk and widening protection gaps, but also growing recognition that insurance has a critical role to play in sustainable development. Few leaders have been as closely involved in shaping this agenda as Achim Steiner, former Co-Chair […]

A Decade of IAIS-IDF collaboration: Jonathan Dixon Reflects on the IDF’s 10th Anniversary

Congratulations to the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) on its tenth anniversary—a significant milestone in advancing resilience through innovative insurance solutions. As IAIS Secretary General, I deeply value our decade-long partnership, which has amplified the voice of insurance in global policy discussions. I also commend the leadership of Chair Michel Liès, Secretary General Ekhosuehi Iyahen and […]

Building Global Resilience: Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven on the IDF at 10 Years

Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven

As the Insurance Development Forum marks its 10th anniversary, it is an opportune moment to reflect on how collaboration between the public and private sectors has reshaped the global approach to risk, resilience and sustainable development. A leader who has been instrumental in this journey is Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven, Managing Director of GIZ and member of […]

Narrowing the Protection Gap: Stephen Catlin on the Beginnings and Future of the IDF

As the Insurance Development Forum marks its 10-year anniversary, we reflect with Stephen Catlin, Chairman of Convex, Steering Committee Member and former Chair of the IDF, on the motivation behind the Forum’s creation and the progress made since its inception. A founding figure of the IDF, Stephen shares why narrowing the global protection gap was […]

Building What Didn’t Exist Before: Denis Duverne on the IDF’s First Decade

arking the Insurance Development Forum’s 10-year anniversary, we interviewed Denis Duverne, former Chair of the Board of Directors of AXA, and the former Chair of the IDF Steering Committee, who led its operationalisation from 2018 to 2022. Instrumental in shaping the IDF during critical years – including through the uncertainty of the global pandemic – […]

Wynne Lawrence on Law, Policy and Partnership at the Insurance Development Forum

As the Insurance Development Forum marks its 10-year anniversary, we speak with Wynne Lawrence, Partner at Clyde & Co and member of the IDF Steering Committee, about the role of law, policy and public–private collaboration in building climate resilience. With a career spanning reinsurance, climate risk and emerging liability risks, Wynne reflects on why the […]

Building Future-Ready Nations: Reflections on 10 Years of the Insurance Development Forum – An interview with Ekhosuehi Iyahen, IDF Secretary General

Ekhosuehi Iyahen

As the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) marks its 10th anniversary, Secretary General Ekhosuehi Iyahen reflects on a decade of partnership, purpose, and progress. From its inception, the IDF has sought to demonstrate that insurance is not simply a financial instrument but a foundation for resilience, stability, and inclusive growth. Here, Ekhosuehi shares her thoughts on […]

Embedding Insurance in Sustainable Development Finance: Reflections from Hiroshi Matano

As the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) marks its 10th anniversary, we spoke with Hiroshi Matano, IDF Steering Committee Co-Chair and Executive Vice President of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), World Bank Group. He shared his perspective on how the IDF has helped to embed insurance in sustainable development finance, and why the next decade […]

Fund Resilience, Not Disasters: Why Risk Reduction is the Future of Insurability

Fund Resilience, Not Disasters: Why Risk Reduction is the Future of Insurability

By Saoirse Jones from Zurich Insurance and Mathieu Verougstraete from UNDRR, both Members of IDF Operating Committee and Co-Chairs of the IDF Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Working Group Every year, disasters are becoming more frequent, more costly, and more devastating. Their global economic costs already reach over $200 billion annually. Yet according to the UN, […]

Unraveling the disaster risk insurance dilemma

Unraveling the disaster risk insurance dilemma

A joint blog by Sumati Rajput, Senior Financial Sector Specialist, World Bank Group, and Kipkorir Koskei, Director, Strategic Partnerships & Policy, Insurance Development Forum Effective partnerships are like “the prisoner’s dilemma” where the best outcome – or Nash Equilibrium as we call it – is reached when all parties cooperate. Similarly, relying on uncertain, slow […]

Risk Modelling Steering Group Strategy – 2025 Update

The Risk Modelling Steering Group (RMSG) is an expert working group of the Insurance Development Forum. It is international in nature and its 70+ participants are drawn from the insurance industry, vendor modelling organisations, IGOs, NGOs and the scientific research community. It is led by private sector and UN co-chairs and sub-groups are formed by […]

Reducing the Protection Gap Against Climate Shocks and Disasters Through Stronger Public Private Knowledge Partnership

By Ekhosuehi Iyahen, Insurance Development Forum, Secretary General and Olivier Mahul, Global Manager for Climate Finance Mobilization at the World Bank, and former Ex-Officio Member of IDF Steering Committee and Co-Chair of IDF Operating Committee. Public private knowledge partnership is critical to help developing countries develop climate and disaster risk finance strategies as the range […]

IDF’s Ekhosuehi Iyahen speaks at the 18th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering: On Mobilising Insurance Capabilities for Resilience

Despite insurers contributing between USD 5 and 5.5 trillion annually to global financial resilience, significant insurance protection gaps remain, especially in developing countries where penetration rates are as low as 2-3%. Increasing insurance penetration by even 1% could significantly reduce the disaster recovery burden on taxpayers, highlighting the importance of expanding insurance coverage. Recent earthquake […]

Risk Modelling Steering Group Strategy: 2024 update

The Risk Modelling Steering Group (RMSG) is an expert working group of the Insurance Development Forum. It is international in nature and its 70+ participants are drawn from the insurance industry, vendor modelling organisations, IGOs, NGOs and the scientific research community. It is led by private sector and UN co-chairs and sub-groups are formed by […]

Pioneering an Inclusive Insurance Roadmap in Senegal

The Insurance Development Forum’s (IDF) Inclusive Insurance Working Group (IIWG) is spearheading an inclusive insurance roadmap in Senegal in partnership with international organisations, local regulators, and insurance businesses. Senegal is one of Africa’s fastest-growing countries, but in recent years its resilience has been frequently tested by a variety of shocks – both exogenous and endogenous, […]

Kenya – The road to a country strategy for inclusive insurance

Focused on making impactful strides towards enhancing financial inclusion and driving economic resilience, the Insurance Development Forum’s (IDF) Inclusive Insurance Working Group (IIWG) is spearheading a transformative initiative in Kenya in partnership with international organisations, local regulators, and insurance businesses. The IDF, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme’s Insurance and Risk Financing Facility, […]