London, UK, 12 June 2025 – The Insurance Development Forum (IDF) marked its 10th anniversary at the IDF Summit 2025 last week, under the theme “Celebrating 10 Years – Imagine the possible” and opened with a powerful speech by the Hon. Nogui Acosta Jaén, Minister of Finance from Costa Rica, as the Keynote speaker. At the Summit, the IDF launched its new Strategy to 2030 and a refreshed branding. The conference gathered senior figures and experts from the insurance industry and public sector to share insights and discuss the most pressing topics in the area of disaster risk finance and insurance. It marked a decade of action and a renewed commitment to scaling insurance as a force for resilience in emerging and developing nations.
The IDF was founded in 2015 with leaders from the insurance industry, the United Nations, and the World Bank Group, as a public private partnership to drive use of insurance capabilities to support development and humanitarian priorities, maximising implementation. The partnership has active programmes in more than 25 countries, and more than 400 experts and officials from industry, governments, multilaterals, academia and development institutions collaborating in these efforts. During the last 10 years it has grown into a trusted global platform for the public sector to access insurance capabilities and insights, and to implement programmes and initiatives which drive impact.
The broad strategy review IDF conducted with private and public sector members confirmed its existing vision and mission are still valid. New in its strategy for the coming years are the aim to expand the scope of its work to additional risks such as health, and to new services such as resilience services or risk engineering, to better respond to the needs of the emerging and developing nations it looks to work with. In addition, IDF will drive new efforts to address emerging systemic challenges, such as maintaining insurability. These new strategic elements recognize the need to adapt to the changing environment in which the partnership operates and the need to scale up action for greater impact, including through forming new partnerships. At the core of the IDF’s work remains the focus on implementation to deliver practical solutions; on engagement to mobilise expertise and capital, and on advocacy to shape policy and build understanding of insurance as a tool for resilience and economic growth. Delivering on the new strategy, a new partnership between the IDF and the Bridgetown Initiative was announced during the Summit.
The call “Let’s build future-ready nations”, at the core of its brand refresh, signals that this is more than a visual update. A fresh and direct communications approach and language will seek to express more clearly the IDF members’ shared purpose. To build insurance markets and see greater use of broad insurance capabilities in Emerging and Development Economies (EMDEs). With insurance as a foundation that enables countries to manage and reduce risk before shocks strike, to protect lives and critical assets and recover faster from disaster, to build resilience and stabilise economies, unlock capital and secure development. So that nations can grow and thrive.
Michel Liès, Chair of the IDF Steering Committee and Chairman of the Board, Zurich Insurance Group, said: “Hearing so many voices from senior leaders from industry, developing countries and global organizations at our Summit was inspiring. Insurance is a strategic enabler of resilience, stability and progress. Our Strategy to 2030 is a call to action to integrate insurance capabilities more deeply across public policy and finance to help countries not just survive disaster, but to thrive in spite of it.”
Hiroshi Matano, Co-Chair of the IDF Steering Committee and Executive Vice President, MIGA (World Bank Group), said: “The IDF-World Bank Global Shield Finance Facility Knowledge Hub Day, held adjacent to the IDF Summit, saw about 25 government officials from World Bank client countries meet IDF industry experts. In economies vulnerable to disasters, insurance can contribute to connecting governments to the tools and capital they need to protect jobs, invest, grow and plan for the future. The IDF’s strategy marks the right direction to integrate insurance in the relevant global policy discussions and make this a reality at the local level.”
Thomas Beloe, Director of UNDP’s Sustainable Finance Hub, added: “The IDF Summit 2025 reflected the level of public and private collaboration and discussion needed to keep multilateralism alive. At its 10-year milestone, the IDF has delivered bold, practical action while working to build resilience in the countries that need it most. As a co-founder, UNDP welcomes the IDF’s refreshed strategy along with the clarity, ambition and urgency it brings to our shared mission.”
Explore the new homepage at www.insdevforum.org and follow the IDF on LinkedIn for insights from the IDF Summit 2025. A full new IDF website and materials with the new branding will be released in a transition process during the coming weeks and months.
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