Micro-insurance access urged
Cambodia’s finance sector should increase insurance accessibility to its smallest lenders to help protect against indebtedness at times of disaster, an industry expert said at a conference in Phnom Penh yesterday.
Speaking at the Hotel Cambodiana to an audience of industry representatives on rural entrepreneurship, Jaime Aristotle Alip, founder and managing director of the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutually Reinforcing Institutions, said Cambodia’s microfinance institutions (MFIs) should move to the “next level” and offer more micro-insurance options to help protect micro-businesses from the burdens of loan default. …
Micro-insurance products can help to cover a part or all of someone’s loan repayments in the event of death or loss of earnings from injury or disaster. MFIs partner with insurance providers to sell products to MFI loan customers. …
Samic Microfinance has partnered with the Measure for Economic and Accelerated Development for All (MEADA), to offer micro-life insurance. It began as a pilot project in 2007 with 1,300 clients and has grown to over 19,700.
Through a MEADA loan-protection product when a client takes a loan of $1,000, they pay a premium of $14 to $15 per year. …
Hor Kimsay and Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/micro-insurance-access-urged
