Each case study is being conducted by a two-person team containing
microfinance and insurance expertise. The teams also include
a combination of local and international expertise. The case studies will
all follow a common methodology and outline, adapted to the local
circumstances as needed. The total sample of case studies will represent an
array of delivery channels and product types, with an emphasis on life and
health since these seem to reflect the primary concerns of poor people.
Based on the case study results, a small team of microfinance and
insurance experts will distil a comprehensive synthesis report that will
include lessons learned and a set of good and bad practices. The report will
be written to meet the needs of practitioners and it will include numerous
detailed examples drawn from the case studies.
Case study 1
Peru
Serviperú |
This case study relates to the
experiences of one insurer, SEGUROSCOOP, that was hurt not only by the
regulatory changes, but also experienced a decline in its core market,
Peruvian cooperatives. A decade ago,
SEGUROSCOOP had to cease operating as an insurance company for the
cooperative sector and became a company offering protection services,
as Serviperú is today. The development and consolidation of this
transformation has seen many good practices, but also some
limitations.
|
by M. Rodriguez & B. Miranda |
Case study 2
Poland
Tuw
Skok |
As the primary insurance provider of the
Polish credit unions (CUs), TUW SKOK's history is linked to the
re-emergence of the credit union movement after the fall of communism.
Initially services focused on deposit insurance and loan protection
for credit unions. In 2000, the insurer received additional licences
allowing it to reach out to credit union members themselves. In recent
years, TUW SKOK has unveiled numerous personal insurance products for
credit union members.
|
by C. Churchill & T. Pepler |
Case study 3
Vietnam
TYM's
Mutual Assistance Fund |
The TYM Fund or Compassionate Fund is a
Grameen replication project that was formally launched in 1993. The
fund is managed by the Vietnam Women's Union (VWU), a mass-based
national organisation to promote the welfare of Vietnamese women. TYM
launched the Mutual Assistance Fund to protect against the death of a
client or family member. |
by Nhu-An Tran & Tan See Yun |
Case study 4
Philippines
CARD
MBA
|
The story of a mutual benefit association that was created by a
microfinance institution, but not before the MFI nearly went bankrupt by
offering insurance without sufficient professional and technical expertise,
or as the case explains, "It is fair to say that CARD MBA...arose from
a severe miscalculation resulting from too much good heart." |
by M. McCord & G. Buczkowski |
Case study 5
Guatemala
COLUMNA
|
Founded in 1994, COLUMNA is owned by the Guatemalan National Federation
of Credit Unions (FENACOAC) and several of its credit union members.
FENACOAC and the credit unions created COLUMNA to take over and expand the
federation's informal insurance activites--FENACOAC began offering group
life insurance to the cooperatives' members and staff in 1970. |
by C. Herrera & B. Miranda |
Case study 6
Global
Lessons
Learnt the Hard Way |
The paper is based on real life examples and creates a framework
of an insurer's vulnerabilities. To make sense of what went wrong and
how and why exactly, each part of the framework describes the
function and its proper handling--or best practice
|
by ICMIF |
Case study 7
Delta Life, Bangladesh |
Delta Life Insurance Company was founded in late 1986 soon after the
denationalisation of the Bangladesh financial sectors. Delta Life’s
initial products consisted primarily of endowment policies, which
combined contractual savings with life insurance, targeted at
Bangladesh’s middle and upper classes. Not long after the
organisation started however, the founder, Mr. Shafat Ahmed
Chaudhuri, and other owners recognised that Delta needed to develop
something quite innovative if the organisation was going to be
relevant to the vast majority of the population who lived below the
poverty line.
|
by M.J. McCord & C. Churchill |
| Case study 8Malawi
Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives |
MUSCCO is the national association of Savings and Credit
Cooperatives. Insurance services are an integrated and mandatory part
of the SACCO’s activities from the beginning. When members join the
SACCO, they also join the insurance scheme. Based on initial
technical and reinsurance support from CUNA Mutual2, there were, and
still are, two types of insurance: 1) loan protection; and 2) a life
savings scheme. MUSCCO’s insurance scheme, the SACCO Financial
Protection Programme (SFPP) fund, has been growing rapidly in recent
years, reaching MK 21 million (almost $200 000) by the end of 2003.
For the last two years, the underwriting profits were transferred to
the fund. The very positive yield on the investments in Treasury
Bonds has also helped to increase the value of the fund. |
by Sven Enarsson and Kjell Wirén. |
| Case
study 9AIG Uganda, Member of the American International Group of
Companies |
In 1996, the management of FINCA Uganda (FU), a microfinance
institution (MFI), approached the American International Group (AIG)
Uganda to develop an insurance product for the MFI’s clients. FINCA
Uganda had seen the difficulties experienced by clients’ families
when there is a death in the household and decided to work with an
insurer to help clients cope with this risk.
A basic product was launched in 1997, and an expanded version of
the product, including coverage for the spouse and four children, was
introduced in 1999. Now, eight years after AIG Uganda became involved
in microinsurance, this study looks at what has become a success
story in several ways. For the microfinance clients, AIG’s group
personal accident (GPA) product has been useful and affordable in
managing traumatic lifecycle events. Ugandan MFIs that participate in the scheme have
generated revenues and helped improve loan portfolio quality.
|
by Michael J. McCord, Felipe Botero, and
Janet S. McCord |
| Case study 10: Madison Insurance, Zambia |
The microinsurance provision in Zambia is new, but steadily
expanding. The size and number of microinsurance transactions have
grown dramatically since 2001. The range of microinsurance products,
however, has remained narrow with most of the products being closely
linked to microcredit. Microinsurance in Zambia largely consists of
credit life and funeral coverage for microfinance borrowers and their
family members. This case study documents Madison’s experience in
providing insurance to MFI clients through a partner-agent model.
Madison’s involvement in microinsurance began in October 2000
through a partnership with PULSE Holdings Limited. |
by Lemme Manje |
| Case study 11: Technical Assistance for the
Promotion of Microinsurance. The Experience of Opportunity
International |
The Opportunity International (OI) network of 39 microfinance
institutions (MFIs) served over 675,000 low-income persons at the end
of 2004. The members of the OI network strive to achieve a triple
bottom line of client outreach, financial sustainability and client
transformation. The provision of microinsurance is an important
component in this 3-pronged objective. Insurance can benefit large
numbers of people since clients and their family members can be
covered. Furthermore, when offering insurance in partnership with an
insurance company, microinsurance is not capital intensive, so growth
is not limited by the ability to mobilise loan capital. These
partnerships also facilitate the second objective of financial
sustainability, as insurance lowers loan losses while generating
fee-based income for the MFI. Thirdly, insurance helps to transform
clients by providing peace of mind and assistance when they need it
most. |
by Richard Leftley |
| Case study 12:
La Equidad, Colombia, Good and Bad Practices |
This case study looks at another insurance company that was created by the cooperative movement
(like TUW SKOK and Columna), but this one is a bit different because it is having greater success in
promoting microinsurance in partnership with a microfinance institution (Women's World Foundation) than
through the credit unions. La Equidad has an interesting life insurance product as it provides benefits toward groceries,
utilities and education expenses. The insurer has invested in making the partnership with the MFI a success by developing
software that will enhance reporting and monitoring for both parties. La Equidad hopes to expand its microinsurance activities
by cultivating partnerships with other MFIs as well.
|
by Gloria Almeyda and Francisco de Paula Jaramillo |
| Case study 13:
Health Microinsurance, A comparative study of three schemes in Bangladesh, Good and Bad Practices |
This study compares the health microinsurance schemes of BRAC, Grameen Kalyan and
Society for Social Services. GK and SSS essentially have an HMO arrangement, where the health care
provider and the insurer are the same; BRAC has created a separate NGO to offer health insurance for
services at its health clinics. Of the three, BRAC's is the youngest and the smallest, still really in the pilot phase;
whereas GK's scheme is the most successful, operationally and financially, due largely to a generous endowment
that was provided by its parent company. All three are grappling with the serious challenges of providing
health insurance, in particular finding the right balance between providing coverage and covering costs.
|
by Mosleh Ahmed et al
|
| Case study 14: Tata-AIG in India |
Even though the experience is still quite young, this is an interesting case study
because the insurer--to fulfill its regulatory obligations to serve the rural and social sectors--is
experimenting with new delivery channels besides the partner-agent approach. While it is too soon
to determine if Tata-AIG's micro-agent model will succeed, the trends seem promising. Tata-AIG has
also been clever in the way that it has pursued its microinsurance obligations, by creating a separate
rural and social team that has been well funded (partly thanks to a DfID financial deepening
challenge fund grant) and given autonomy to innovate.
The insurer offers both term and endowment policies to the low-income market, and the
latter seem to be in much greater demand. |
by Jim Roth and Vijay Athreye |
| Case study 15:
Microinsurance and Microfinance Institutions. Evidence from India |
This publication looks at microinsurance from the perspective of microfinance institutions and tries to understand what MFIs should (and should not)
do based on the experiences of 3 MFIs in India: SPANDANA, SHEPHERD and ASA. Even though the 3 organizations operate in similar
environments and target similiar clients, their approaches to microinsurance are very different. SPANDANA runs an in-house insurance scheme
with fairly basic benefits to a huge volume of customers; SHEPHERD provide very comprehensive coverage, including life, property and hospitalization
coverage in partnership with insurers, but to a smaller number of clients. ASA falls somewhere in between, in terms of scale, coverage, and partners--having
switched between in-house and insurance partners several times.
|
by James Roth, Craig Churchill, Gabriele Ramm and Namerta |
| Case study 16:
VimoSEWA, India |
This case study provides some excellent insights into the challenges--and ways for overcoming those challenges--of
providing an integrated package of benefits (health, life, asset and accident) on a voluntary basis to large volumes of low-income
women. While mandatory coverage linked to microcredit is the easiest and most successful type of microinsurance, it does not do a very
effective job of addressing the risk-management needs of the target market. In contrast, VimoSEWA's integrated and voluntary approach
is much riskier and difficult, and it will take longer to achieve viability, but in the end it is likely to achieve significantly greater development impact.
|
by Denis Garand |
| Case study 17:
L’Union des Mutuelles de Santé de Guinée Forestière, Guinea |
Lessons from the Union des Mutuelles de Santé de Guinée Forestière (UMSGF), an association of mutual health organizations (MHOs) established in
1999 by the International Centre for Development and Research (CIDR). This case study provides keen insights into the advantages and challenges of the
mutual or community-based model of providing health insurance, and makes strong arguments that this is an appropriate delivery mechanism in serving a dispersed
population with strong, existing social cohesion.
|
by Bruno Gautier, Allan Boutbien and Bruno Galland |
| Case study 18:
Health microinsurance, a comparison of four publicly-run schemes in Latin America
|
This case study is quite unique as the schemes in Bolivia, Peru, El Salvador and Paraguay were all driven in one way or another by the government. Three of the schemes were initially set up by the respective Ministries of Health to reduce child mortality and improve materal health (i.e., to address millennium development goals), while the fourth scheme (in El Salvador) was created in collaboration with the Ministry of Education to improve the health care of public school teachers and their dependents. Except for the latter scheme, these insurance plans are largely financed from tax revenue, with little or no contributions from the beneficiaries. The analysis of these schemes provides some interesting insights into the design and operations of social protection in health.
|
by Jens Holst |
| Case study 19:
Karuna Trust, Karnataka, India.
|
A unique case, providing a look into an interesting and different benefit package. Although associated with health risks, instead of covering health care costs--which are free or nominal amounts at public facilities--this product provides benefits to address other barriers that inhibit low-income households from accessing free health care. These benefits are designed to fill gaps in the existing health care infrastructure and increase the likelihood that the poor will seek health care services early on.
|
by Ralf Radermacher, Olga van Putten-Rademaker, Verena Müller, Natasha Wig and David Dror |
| Case study 20:
Yeshasvini Trust, Karnataka, India.
|
Yeshasvini's self-funded microinsurance scheme (i.e., not linked to any regulated insurance company) is quite new, but it is still very interesting for the following reasons: scale, institutional arrangement, product design and government involvement.
|
by Ralf Radermacher, Natasha Wig, Olga van Putten-Rademaker, Verena Müller and David Dror
|
| Case study 21:
Almao and Yasiru, Sri Lanka.
|
This paper takes a critical look at two micronsurance schemes in Sri Lanka. ALMAO, a regulated insurance company that was created by a very large savings and credit cooperative movement (Sanasa) and Yasiru, an unregulated microinsurer that distributes products through a variety of NGOs and CBOs, and has received financial and technical support from Rabobank/Interpolis. The paper looks into topics such as creating regulated microinsurance companies, informal schemes and the role of donors.
|
by Sven Enarsson and Kjell Wirén |
| Case study 22:
Association d'Entraide des Femmes, Benin |
AssEF in Benin is an interesting example of a health insurance scheme implemented by a microfinance institution (in this case, a network of savings and credit associations). Although the scheme has only been around for a couple of years, it has over 2000 beneficiaries and is covering its claims costs (some of its operating expenses are purposefully subsidised by the MFI). The case study provides some useful details about the feasibility study process that health microinsurance schemes go through to set prices, and to propose options to prospective clients. In addition, AssEF's experience in associating a health insurance scheme with an MFI challenges some conventional wisdom on the topic. The case study also shows the critical importance of having an effective performance monitoring system.
|
by Olivier Louis dit Guerin |
