Washington, D.C., April 18
th
, 2018
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has teamed up with Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, the commercial insurance entity of the Swiss Re Group, to expand a pioneering platform by $500 million, enabling an increase in investments that will modernize infrastructure in emerging markets across the world.
Swiss Re Corporate Solutions will insure a portion of the credit risk on loans IFC makes under its Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program (MCPP)—covering as much as $500 million of risk in total. The transaction, which started operations this week, increases the platform’s total capacity to $7 billion, allowing IFC to increase its investments to improve power, water, transport and telecommunications in developing countries.
“Modern infrastructure is essential for economic growth and lasting prosperity,” said IFC Vice President and Treasurer Jingdong Hua. “Yet a huge investment gap exists in this sector—totaling trillions of dollars a year in emerging markets alone. The MCPP platform marks a breakthrough in the search for large-scale financing solutions to the challenges of development. Through this partnership with Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, we have extended MCPP’s reach and created another important building block in the global effort to move from billions to trillions in development finance.”
Andreas Hillebrand, Head Credit & Special Lines at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, said: “We are pleased to support this IFC initiative, which will help release much-needed capital into emerging markets to support tomorrow's resilient societies and economies. Furthermore, by strengthening our relationship with the IFC, we will be able to further expand our well-established trade and infrastructure finance platform and increase the diversity of our emerging market portfolio."
Through this partnership, IFC will originate and manage a portfolio of loans for its own account, while Swiss Re Corporate Solutions will use an unfunded risk-participation product to insure IFC’s risk in the event of a default. By utilizing this approach, IFC will gain additional capacity to finance vital infrastructure in emerging markets. Loans provided will have global coverage and be available in multiple currencies.
IFC created MCPP in 2013, when the People’s Bank of China pledged $3 billion for investment in IFC projects. Since then, the platform has more than doubled in size by including a variety of global institutional investors—including pension funds, sovereign funds, and insurance companies.
About IFC
IFC—a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group—is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work with more than 2,000 businesses worldwide, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in the toughest areas of the world. In FY17, we delivered a record $19.3 billion in long-term financing for developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to help end poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
About Swiss Re Group and Swiss Re Corporate Solutions
The Swiss Re Group is a leading wholesale provider of reinsurance, insurance and other insurance-based forms of risk transfer. From standard products to tailor-made coverage across all lines of business, Swiss Re Group deploys its capital strength, expertise and innovation power to enable the risk-taking upon which enterprise and progress in society depend.
Swiss Re Corporate Solutions offers high-quality insurance capacity to mid-sized and large multinational corporations and banks across the globe. Our offerings range from standard risk transfer covers and multi-line programs, to highly customized solutions tailored to the needs of our clients. Swiss Re Corporate Solutions serves customers from over 50 offices worldwide and is backed by the financial strength of the Swiss Re Group.
For more information about Swiss Re Group, please visit:
www.swissre.com
or follow us on Twitter @SwissRe.
