Italian insurer Generali and the World Bank Group have signed an agreement to direct private institutional capital and expand coverage across frontier and emerging markets.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) creates a mutual structure designed to mitigate commercial investment risks while closing protection deficits.
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Work will initially concentrate on Asian territories.
It will target three specific areas: creating products for ageing populations under the World Bank Group’s Silver Economy Programme; broadening climate and crop protection for agriculture; and reinforcing safeguards against disasters.
The initiative further includes establishing regional risk-pooling mechanisms intended to construct scalable, diversified structures that absorb shocks linked to climate events.
World Bank Group president Ajay Banga said: “Alongside stronger infrastructure and better policy, insurance can help protect development gains – and make the next investment possible. That is the opportunity for our partnership with Generali: bring long-term capital and risk expertise together with our country relationships, financing and guarantees.”
On capital allocation, the two parties will work together to build viable investment pipelines that channel institutional funds into developing territories, provided these opportunities satisfy Generali’s institutional investment benchmarks.
In addition to transactional market measures, the organisations will undertake joint research, advocacy and policy discussions to improve supervisory authorities’ understanding of the ways insurance structures bolster macro-financial stability.
The pact was formally presented during the Insuring Resilient Growth: De-Risking Investments and Creating Jobs event, attended by Banga and UN Development Programme (UNDP) administrator Alexander De Croo.
For Generali, this collaboration advances its Lifetime Partner 27: Driving Excellence strategy, which employs public-private alliances to deploy commercial balance sheets and specialised underwriting instruments in developing regions.
Generali Group chairman Andrea Sironi said: “Together with the World Bank Group, we will combine our respective public and private sector expertise and capabilities to mobilise capital at scale and expand access to new solutions that foster resilience as well as sustainable economic development in a meaningful way.”
Earlier this month, Generali Central, the Italian group’s Indian joint venture, joined with the UNDP to roll out a scheme aimed at assessing and scaling up insurance provision for Indian micro, small and medium enterprises.
