First Micro Insurance Agency Pakistan
Micro Insurance for Families in Pakistan
SNAPSHOT
First Micro Insurance Agency Pakistan (FMiA-Pakistan) is the first to develop, market and manage life and health insurance products for low-income communities in Pakistan. FMiA’s goal is to shield poor families from financial shocks and to prevent them from falling further below the poverty line. FMiA has already provided insurance to more than 540,000 people.
The Challenge
- Low-income families are especially vulnerable to financial impacts associated with life-cycle events such as births, deaths, illnesses and loss of assets. More than 30 percent can expect to experience a severe financial shock during the economically active lifetime of a two-parent family. And whether planned or unplanned, these events often precipitate a severe drop in a family’s quality of life. One study estimates that up to 25 percent of hospitalized people in South Asia fall below the poverty line because of hospital-related expenses.
The Innovation
- FMiA offers life and health insurance products to poor families. Its policies are underwritten by New Jubilee Life, one of Pakistan’s largest insurance companies. FMiA products are currently available to borrowers in Gilgit-Baltistan through the First Microfinance Bank Pakistan in Karachi and through Buksh in Lahore.
- FMiA is a joint venture between Acumen Fund and the Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance (AKAM). The AKAM Microinsurance Initiative, which began in 2006, represents one of the first concerted efforts to develop the market for microinsurance globally.
The Impact
- FMiA’s portfolio has grown to 390,000 credit lives insured and nearly 150,000 health lives (hospitilzation) insured. Responding to the demand for services beyond health insurance, the company provides out-patient consultation through a 24-hour hotline, provides access to discounted medicines, and sponsors neighborhood health clinics.
- FMiA and Acumen Fund hope to demonstrate a commercially viable model that will provide insurance to underserved groups not only in Pakistan, but in similar markets worldwide.
