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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">GENEVA</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> (ILO News) - <B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">The ILO's Microinsurance Innovation Facility<SPAN style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> announced today a new partnership with Z <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Zurich</st1:place></st1:City> Foundation. The Foundation will support the Microinsurance Innovation Facility with a contribution of CHF 3 million to increase access to better insurance coverage to low-income people in a cost effective way. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><EM><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">Low-income households, often headed by workers in the informal economy, are particularly vulnerable to the risks, including illness, death, workplace accidents and natural disasters, like the earthquake in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Haiti</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Insurance companies specialize in carrying risk, and with appropriate incentives and approaches, they could contribute to reducing the vulnerability of the poor. Many insurers have started to serve the low-income market, but one of the main challenges they face is reducing </SPAN></EM><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">administrative costs so as to make risk protection products affordable for the poor. Therefore, a major focus area for the development of microinsurance is to improve efficiency in the process of enrolling often unbanked clients, collecting their premiums in remote areas, and managing large numbers of small policies. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Funding from the Zurich Foundation will be used by the Facility to organize its <A href="http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/mifacility/activities/innovation.htm">5th round of innovation grants</A> that give the opportunity to a wide range of players </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">including national and multi-national insurance companies, NGOs, community based groups and cooperatives<SPAN style="COLOR: black"> to test new microinsurance projects in developing countries. The focus of the round will be on scale and efficiency to encourage providers to use technology to serve more low-income people and at the same time increase their economic benefits. Results and learning will be widely disseminated to assure the broadest possible usage of the gained insights. Application guidelines will be announced in October 2010.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">"The sector is working out how to keep costs low. There is the expectation that, in the next few years, technology will bring costs even lower and enable access to insurance protection to more individuals in developing countries. Funding from the Zurich Foundation will help us to support efforts to make this happen," said Craig Churchill, Team Leader of the Microinsurance Innovation Facility.<SPAN style="COLOR: red"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>"We believe it's critical to our long-term business success to play our part in delivering sustainable, long-lasting solutions to important and relevant economic, social and environmental challenges. In these difficult times of market recovery, it is important to underpin our commitment to corporate responsibility and actively support the development of better insurance services for the less fortunate," said Martin Senn, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Zurich</st1:place></st1:City>'s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Foundation's Board. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 6pt 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Housed at the International Labour Organization, the <A href="http://www.ilo.org/microinsurance">Microinsurance Innovation Facility</A> was launched in 2008 with the support of a grant from the <SPAN style="COLOR: blue"><A href="http://www.gatesfoundation.org/default.htm">Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation</A></SPAN>. The Facility seeks to increase the availability of quality insurance for the developing world's low-income families to help them guard against risk and overcome poverty. To achieve this goal, the Facility works in close collaboration with the private sector not only as a funding source, but as implementers. The Facility partners with the many private sector actors to experiment with approaches to extend insurance to low-income households, with the objective of reducing their vulnerability and alleviate poverty. The Facility believes that encouraging the private sector to consider low-income people as a 'real' market can bring incredible social benefit.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 6pt 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">The Z <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Zurich</st1:place></st1:City> Foundation's</SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> mission is to equip people with the knowledge and resources to better manage change and risk in their lives and in the world around them. On a strategic level it develops long-term partnerships with selected Non-Profit Organizations. The Foundation's focus is on the interlinked challenges of climate change, water scarcity, food security and economic development, combining <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Zurich</st1:place></st1:City>'s global experience and risk management capabilities with the Non-Profit Organizations' local knowledge and sustainable development expertise. Current partners are UK-based Practical Action, US-based Rainforest Alliance, and the Swiss-based International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 6pt 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Zurich Financial Services Group</SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> (<st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Zurich</st1:place></st1:City>) is an insurance-based financial services provider with a global network of subsidiaries and offices in <st1:place w:st="on">North America</st1:place> and <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place> as well as in Asia Pacific, <st1:place w:st="on">Latin America</st1:place> and other markets. Founded in 1872, the Group is headquartered in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Zurich</st1:City>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Switzerland</st1:country-region></st1:place>. It employs approximately 60,000 people serving customers in more than 170 countries.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 6pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">More information at</SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">: www.ilo.org/microinsurance<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P><BR>
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