Summary (English)

This Microinsurance Note addresses the changing nature of insurance regulation and supervision in low-income countries; which the authors consider to be no longer solely focused on consumer protection (questions of insurer solvency, management capacity, suitability of practices in view of target population, transparent and fair marketing practices).
Recognising that insurance regulation and supervision has in some cases (some examples: South Africa, Brazil, the Philippines, India) taken on a secondary role; that of stimulating the development of the insurance market (particularly its expansion in the low-income sector), this paper seeks to provide guidance on the challenge of achieving a balance between the two goals of providing regulation to protect low-income families from insurance pitfalls and creating an enabling environment for the expansion of the insurance market.The paper details various examples of regulatory adaptations used to improve the access of low-income populations to specialized insurance products, while the advantages and disadvantages of regulatory practice in the specific case of India (quotas to ensure that insurance products are sold to certain social and rural groups, enforced by fines) are more closely analysed.
Note from ILO/STEP: Health mutuals play a key role in the extension of social protection for low-income populations. It is therefore important that regulators are aware of the importance of :

• not applying to mutual health organisations the same regulation that applies to commercial insurance: health mutuals are performing a role that the State should do. They are an instrument for the extension of social protection and therefore have to be considered as belonging to the social insurance legal area rather to the commercial insurance one;
• finding a balance between prudential rules to protect members and an enabling environment for the expansion of the health mutuals.

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