Paris, September 22, 2014
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and AXA Group, a worldwide leader in insurance, signed an agreement today to help expand insurance coverage, improve safety, and foster economic growth in emerging markets.
The five areas of cooperation are: co-investments, with an initial focus on Africa and Latin America; improving road safety; increasing insurance coverage for women; infrastructure development; and sustainability and responsible investments. The signing took place at the conclusion of AXA’s Women Forum, which focused on the expansion of access to insurance for women.
“There is a significant demand for financial services in emerging countries as people want to achieve security for their families and businesses, and relative to other sub-segments of the financial sector, the insurance industry remains underdeveloped,” said Denis Duverne, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of AXA. “One of the key pillars of our strategic plan is the acceleration of our activities in these high-growth markets, and we are very enthusiastic to be working with IFC to contribute to developing insurance coverage and capacity.”
Dimitris Tsitsiragos, IFC Vice President, said: “Insurance is vital for managing risks and helping to promote growth and foster a well-managed economy in developing countries. Partnering with a global insurance leader like AXA will help us catalyze the positive developmental role of insurance, which will ultimately contribute to eradicating poverty and boosting shared prosperity.”
The agreement leverages the expertise and leadership of both IFC and AXA to improve global access to insurance products. Increasing insurance coverage is key to promoting sustainable economic development and private sector growth.
Insurance also plays an important role in mitigating risks in emerging markets, helping to cushion individuals and businesses against the adverse effects of natural disasters, fires, droughts, and other unforeseen events. Expanding insurance coverage for women will also encourage women-owned businesses and entrepreneurs to take more risks and create greater economic opportunities.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. Working with private enterprises in about 100 countries, we use our capital, expertise, and influence to help eliminate extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. In FY14, we provided more than $22 billion in financing to improve lives in developing countries and tackle the most urgent challenges of development. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
About AXA
The AXA Group is a worldwide leader in insurance and asset management, with 157,000 employees serving 102 million clients in 56 countries. In 2013, IFRS revenues amounted to Euro 91.2 billion and IFRS underlying earnings to Euro 4.7 billion. AXA had Euro 1,113 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2013. The AXA Group is included in the main international SRI indexes, such as Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) and FTSE4GOOD. It is a founding member of the UN Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) Principles for Sustainable Insurance and a signatory of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment.
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