New political violence terrorism reinsurance for African SMEs

AFRICAN SPE CIALIST underwriting agency, Neema Insurance Managing Agency, in collaboration with ASR Re, has launched a new Political Violence Terrorism (PVT) reinsurance solution, according to a Reuters report.

This new product is aimed at African small and medium enterprises (SMEs). ASR Re will provide Neema with the capacity to underwrite SME business on their behalf in some African territories.

Sharon Ng, principal officer of Neema, which is licensed in Mauritius, said: “As part of its objectives for 2022, Neema wants to offer customised reinsurance solutions to all types of businesses in Africa. The launch of this PVT product is a direct result of the significant demand we have received coming from small and medium enterprises.” She continued: “The Neema team has worked with clients across Africa on this line of business. These include large multi-nationals to small-to-medium-sized businesses.” Zouheb Azam, head of political violence underwriting at ASR, said of the cooperation with Neema, “This opens the door to SME opportunity across Africa which should bring diversification to our current book. This also demonstrates our commitment to support local players despite the challenging time the PVT industry is facing.”

AGROUP OF LEADING financial institutions from across Africa has rallied together with Ghana’s Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology & Innovation (MESTI), and the UK-funded financial sector development agency, FSD Africa, as founding members of the African Natural Capital Alliance (ANCA).

The alliance, in partnership with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), will act as an African-led collaborative forum for mobilising the financial community’s response to nature-related risks and opportunities across the continent.

The ultimate aim of ANCA is to help grow and protect Africa’s natural capital by shifting financial flows from destructive activities for short-term gain to long-term stewardship of nature for sustainable economic growth.

Among the founding members are Access Bank, the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), Ecobank, Equity Bank, FirstRand, Investec, Sanlam, Standard Chartered and Zanaco.

FSD Africa acts as coordinator for the alliance with global management consultancy Oliver Wyman acting as execution and knowledge partner. The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) joins ANCA as a knowledge partner while initial support for the alliance is being provided by UNECA and the UK’s

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

ANCA is also working with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) to provide an African voice in the development of its ‘beta’ reporting framework for nature-related risk and opportunities and is taking part in TNFD’s pilot tests.

The new organisation works with financial institutions based or operating in Africa to better understand and reflect the connection of their portfolios to naturerelated risks and opportunities. The goal is to shape the future integration of nature across portfolios in Africa and beyond.

The alliance will focus its efforts on shifting financial flows from activities that destroy nature to more sustainable practices and lobbying to ensure that emerging global standards for nature-related risk management reflect African contexts.