SINGAPORE – The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and QBE Asia have entered a strategic collaboration to strengthen property insurance resilience across Asia-Pacific through the expansion of IFC’s Building Resilience Index (BRI) program.
The partnership aims to address the growing climate-related insurance gap in the region, particularly in countries vulnerable to extreme weather events.
BRI, a digital tool developed by IFC, offers hazard mapping and resilience assessment for real estate assets, enabling stakeholders to evaluate climate risks.
Since its pilot in 2021, this marks the first time an insurance company—QBE Asia, part of QBE Insurance Group’s International Division—has formally joined the initiative.
The collaboration seeks to scale BRI beyond developers, targeting homebuyers, financial institutions, and governments.
One of the core objectives is to facilitate the development of insurance products that incentivize resilient building practices.
Such offerings may include sustainable pricing models, faster claims processing, and parametric insurance payouts based on predefined disaster triggers.
Key areas of focus include awareness and training programs across markets such as Hong Kong SAR, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam.
The partners will also explore technical integration of BRI’s framework with QBE’s risk-modelling tools to enhance underwriting and risk assessment.
As climate events grow more severe and frequent, many assets in emerging markets are becoming less insurable, putting pressure on financial systems and disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations.
The initiative aims to reverse this trend by encouraging better building standards and risk mitigation through improved insurance accessibility.
This collaboration builds on BRI’s rollouts in the Philippines and other regions, and reflects a broader ‘Pathways’ approach designed to establish long-term resilience practices in the built environment.
BRI is supported by funding from the Australian Government, with development assistance from the Netherlands and the Rockefeller Foundation.
Business News Asia
