ADB, Global Insurers to Unlock $2.5 Billion for Small Businesses and Affordable Housing.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has announced a landmark partnership with leading global insurance companies to mobilize up to $2.5 billion in new lending capacity for small businesses, affordable housing, and underserved borrowers across Asia and the Pacific.

The five-year agreement expands upon a credit insurance initiative originally launched in 2022. Named the Master Framework Program for Financial Institutions, the program enables ADB to scale up longer-term debt financing routed through commercial banks and local financial institutions.

De-Risking Balance Sheets to Drive Development

Under the program, ADB utilizes credit insurance to transfer risk off its balance sheet without requiring additional capital reserves. Private insurance partners agree to cover a designated portion of losses in the event a local financial institution defaults on an ADB loan.

The mechanism frees up ADB’s risk capacity, allowing it to extend higher loan volumes to local intermediaries. These institutions, in turn, provide credit to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs)—including women-owned businesses—as well as lower-income households seeking housing loans.

“ADB is getting more money to where it is needed most: small businesses, lower-income families; and communities that struggle to access finance,” said ADB President Masato Kanda during the signing ceremony in Tokyo. “By sharing risk with leading insurers, we can lend more through financial institutions, support more jobs and homes, and make our capital work harder for development.”

Participating Global Insurers

The consortium includes 12 international insurance providers:

• New Program Entrants: Sompo Japan Insurance, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, HDI Global, and SCOR Business Solutions.
• Returning Partners: AXA XL, Chubb, Everest, Liberty, The Hartford, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co. Ltd., and Tokio Marine HCC.

The framework reinforces ADB’s ongoing strategy to leverage private sector capital and innovative risk-sharing tools to address credit scarcity across emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific region.