$137 million microinsurance fund

Charmian Love

May 25, 2010

Last week Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) announced that after 18 months of fundraising,  they were pleased to announce the world’s first microinsurance fund.  LeapFrog Investments surpassed their target of $100 million and closed at $137 million with investors including JP Morgan, TIAA-CREF, Flagstone Re, the Soros Economic Development Fund, the IFC, KfW, BMZ, Proparco, Waterloo Foundation, and the ACE Group.

Microinsurance has proven socially beneficial and commercially scalable in multiple countries. According to the 100 Country Landscape Report on Microinsurance, the estimated size of the market is 1 billion people. This market is still significantly underserved, with less than 3% penetration.

The idea of the fund is based on providing 25 million people in Africa and Asia with access to financial services.  President Clinton has called this fund as ‘the Insurer to the Poor’.