. the combined gross premium income of the industry stood at $ 311. 9 million in 2016, the first time year that the annual premium has gone past the $ 300 million mark. this, honourable chair, is reflective of a growing industry even in a year of a severe catastrophe. net policy payments for the life insurance sector and net claims paid for the general insurance sectors totalled $ 185. 9 million. the industry continued to be assessed as solvent and its earnings performance assessed as satisfactory. honourable chair, the reserve bank of fiji continues to liaise with individual companies on the sustainability of their operations and like any other business during times of crisis, some companies ’ underwriting capacity have been challenged by the impact of recent loss events. as the regulator, the reserve bank has the necessary powers to enforce requirements to ensure that individual companies remain safe and sound, and the insurance industry as a whole continues to be stable. 3. conclusion honourable chair, we note from the list of questions circulated by the committee, the increased interest in what the insurance industry is doing to increase its visibility and promote the important role it plays. we in fact welcome this long list of questions as this gives us an opportunity to explain these issues and clear any mis - understanding or mis - conception. we admit that while there is a view that we have not been pushing the industry that strong, we are happy to report that various development work were being undertaken behind the scenes in the last three years, of which we are now beginning to see the results. i will therefore conclude by providing some brief information on a number of recent developments that now prove a more collaborative approach by the reserve bank, the insurance industry and development partners in seeking to increase the fijian insurance industry ’ s capacity to offer new and innovative products : ( i ) inclusive insurance bundled product in march 2015, the reserve bank of fiji, in collaboration with the united nations pacific financial inclusion program, embarked on a project to facilitate the expansion of inclusive insurance in fiji. inclusive insurance ( or micro - insurance ) refers to the provision of insurance products to the low income and vulnerable sectors of the population. while the reserve bank ’ s intention of involving all general insurance companies did not really come though, we were pleased to note that in july 2017, fijicare insurance limited came forward and offered the first bundled micro insurance product to 11, 606 registered cane farmers who now have access to some form of insurance. the bundled micro insurance product provides a sum insured of $ 10, 000 with an

island countries, aims to plug a market gap and address a persistent development challenge by developing, piloting and scaling market - based parametric insurance solutions. acknowledge pfip ’ s work i wish to acknowledge with sincere gratitude, the commitment and ongoing assistance of the pacific financial inclusion programme ( pfip ), jointly implemented by the united nations capital development fund ( uncdf ) and the united nations development programme ( undp ) to our 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches country and to the region that has enabled us to be at the forefront of significant developments in financial inclusion. the financial and technical assistance by pfip has continued to strengthen the platform we have for financial inclusion, innovative insurance solutions, capacity building and knowledge sharing. i am pleased to highlight that our collaboration with the pfip was established in 2009 after which fiji ’ s first national financial inclusion strategy was also adopted. since then, our collaborative approach, with the set - up of the national financial inclusion taskforce and its four working groups, has worked well for us in providing a platform for effective collaboration between all stakeholders. over the years, we have partnered with pfip on a number of initiatives including the piloting and launch of the bundled micro insurance product with the active participation of the private sector, which has resulted in more than doubling of the insurance penetration rate in fiji, in the past three years. conclusion i wish to also convey my gratitude to the governments of new zealand and australia for their financial support and collaboration with pfip for this initiative. finally, i would like to congratulate uncdf, undp and the un university on the launch of this new programme today. the reserve bank of fiji fully supports this initiative, as it aims to fulfil a long - pending need and aspiration of fiji and our neighboring pacific countries, a region prone to natural disasters which has long lasting impacts on our economic growth. we look forward to continued collaboration under the newly launched pica programme and sharing the many benefits that the programme will bring to our pacific region. vinaka. 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches