At COP26, the Insurance Development Forum’s Secretary General, Ekhosuehi Iyahen, announced three major initiatives and a new partnership (https://www.insdevforum.org/news/) all with the objective of enhancing the ability of insurers, reinsurers, and policymakers to implement more and better interventions around climate change.
• The IDF and the V20 group of vulnerable nations signed a joint agreement to build risk analytics capability where it is needed the most. The signing paves the way for the creation of a global public-private partnership programme, to be known as the Global Risk Modelling Alliance (GRMA).
• The Global Resilience Index Initiative, a multi-partner initiative will provide a globally consistent model for the assessment of resilience across all sectors and geographies. It will be a curated, open-source resource offering high-level metrics across the built environment, infrastructure, agriculture and societal exposures, with many potential applications in aggregated risk management worldwide.
• The IDF will support the Start Ready Program which aims to offer “anticipatory finance,” which can drive earlier response to people in the path of a disaster even before the disaster strikes, allowing for better advance preparation and safety measures.
Secretary General Iyahen, along with Milliman’s Chair Ken Mungan and Michael McCord of the MicroInsurance Centre at Milliman, will dig down into the details of these initiatives to understand exactly what they mean for the insurance industry, governments, and policymakers and how they can offer opportunities for all of us, while we improve the infrastructure for climate change resilience.
Join Ekhosuehi, Ken, and Michael for an action-oriented look at implementing the IDF’s COP26 initiatives.
Ekhosuehi Iyahen is the Secretary General of the Insurance Development Forum (IDF), a Public-Private Partnership led by the insurance industry and supported by the World Bank and the United Nations, aiming to enhance the use of insurance to build greater resilience against disasters and to help achieve the United Nations Global 2030 Agenda. Ekhosuehi has extensive experience working with Governments, international development agencies, private sector entities and academic institutions on public financial management and strengthening risk management and financing systems and the role of insurance.
Ken is the chairman of Milliman. As chairman, Ken is working with all of Milliman’s professionals to serve our clients to protect the health and financial well-being of people everywhere. Prior to his election as the firm’s global chairman, Ken founded Milliman’s Financial Risk Management Practice. Milliman’s financial risk management business is the leading provider of hedging services to the retirement savings industry. Its work helps the clients of life insurance companies, banks, financial advisory platforms and mutual fund firms create strategies for success in retirement. In particular, Milliman’s strategies provide retail investors with institutional quality market risk management for variable annuities, 401(k)’s, and retail mutual funds. In addition, Milliman Financial Risk Management, LLC serves as an investment advisor to provide balance sheet hedging services for major financial institutions.
Clare Harris is the Technical Lead for Crisis Anticipation and Risk Financing at the Start Network. Clare is a senior disaster risk specialist and operational disaster manager, with more than 15 years’ experience working across the humanitarian sector, academia and government. Clare has degree in International Disaster Management and Engineering and in Geophysical Hazards from UCL, focusing on the use of hazard science and forecasts for early humanitarian action. Clare has occupied technical and programme roles within a number of humanitarian agencies and spent 5 years as the global lead for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience at HelpAge International before joining Start Network in 2017. Clare leads on all technical aspects of Start Networks risk financing programs and anticipation work, including the newly launch Start Ready facility.
Michael J. McCord is one of the world’s leading experts in developing and managing microinsurance products. His decades of experience include working as controller of a U.S. commercial bank, chief executive officer of a microfinance institution in Uganda, and regional director for microfinance programs in Africa with FINCA International. In 2000, Michael founded the MicroInsurance Centre (now the MicroInsurance Centre at Milliman), an internationally recognized thought leader and implementer of microinsurance and risk management solutions. The MIC@M’s vision is to provide three billion low-income people across the world with access to valuable microinsurance and risk management solutions. Michael is a highly respected voice in the microinsurance field, working in the areas of research, advocacy, and development of microinsurance products and processes that meet the unique needs of low-income clients.