Access via sign-up on the event app or by invitation only. English-French-Portuguese translation available.
The continent’s insurance industry holds around $441bn in assets, the global insurance industry $42 trillion. The long-duration liabilities of life insurers make them well suited to long-term horizon infrastructure projects. Insurers’ asset allocation to infrastructure globally however stands at around 1% and is estimated at “almost zero” in Africa (outside South Africa), as low-risk sovereign debt is the favoured asset class. Capital charges, threats to an insurer’s liquidity profile, an absence of appropriate instruments, and project failure risks keep insurers on the sidelines of infrastructure investing. A roundtable of insurers, regulators and infrastructure developers discuss how to create enabling investment conditions.
Key points:
- Insurers hold long-term liabilities that match infrastructure timelines. What instruments (guarantees, first-loss tranches, project bonds) would augment their risk-return profile?
- Blended finance with first-loss concessional capital unlocked $80m in naira-denominated financing for Sun King in Nigeria (2025). Is the model replicable elsewhere?
- What reforms would allow African insurers to allocate more to infrastructure within prudential limits?