companies to do what lici is doing here today and come up with more innovative products in this field. the initial undertaking towards expanding access to insurance for the poor is diversifying the products. in their current form, insurance policies are too technical and complicated to be understood by the ordinary man on the street. given the structure of fiji ’ s economy, it is not just about extending any product to the poor, but providing products that are of value to them and which produce a reasonable return. micro life by lici ladies and gentlemen, today, i am extremely pleased to help launch a new micro - insurance product into our economy, called micro life, courtesy of the life insurance corporation of india. micro life is an endowment - type micro - insurance product providing death, disability, accident and funeral expense benefits, besides substantial savings and returns on maturity. this is the first ever individual and comprehensive micro - insurance product for fiji. the initiative is welcomed by the rbf as we believe in innovative financial products in the economy and such introduction is the stepping stone for financial inclusion at large. perhaps the first of its kind in pacific, the product aims to provide low cost life insurance solutions to the segments of society who have up to this point in time, been under served. the product clearly fits our picture of promoting greater financial inclusion. ladies and gentlemen it would be remiss of me not to say anything about the provider. life insurance corporation of india ( lici ) is no small operation. it is a global life insurance company with headquarters in mumbai, india and is fully owned by the government of india. lici, fiji is a branch of the parent company and has been operating in fiji for more than 54 years. the fiji operations of lici are guided by the insurance laws in fiji ( insurance act, 1998 ) and are governed by the reserve bank of fiji. today, lici in fiji is a prominent player in the financial sector of the country, operating through a network of branch offices in suva, lautoka and labasa, besides agency offices in nine other centers. the vision of lici fiji is to become the preferred insurer of choice for the people of fiji. we thank the company for moving further on its vision in the case of its new micro life product. bis central bankers ’ speeches conclusion in concluding, i would just wish to say that micro - insurance is a vital tool for the country ’ s low income people to protect themselves from adversity. if low income

barry whiteside : development of micro - insurance in fiji opening speech by mr barry whiteside, acting governor of the reserve bank of fiji, at the launch of lici ’ s micro life product, suva, 20 april 2011. * * * his excellency the high commissioner of india, mr vinod kumar, general manager, life insurance corporation of india fiji operations, mr krishnan narasimhan, mr. tillman bruett, project manager, pacific financial inclusion programme fiji management & staff of lici, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. good evening and bula vinaka to you all. it is an honour and pleasure to be here with you today to help launch life insurance corporation of india ’ s ( lici ) first individual micro - insurance product. i wish to thank mr. narasimhan for the invitation and i congratulate lici for this exciting initiative. i would like to mention, right up front, that mr. narasimhan is a pioneer member of our national financial inclusion taskforce and the current chairman of the financial literacy working group of that taskforce. during his time in fiji he has clearly demonstrated his passion as an advocate of financial inclusion and has been at the forefront driving and promoting this cause which we hold dear to our hearts. last year he was influential in the green ribbon campaign that raised awareness on the importance of financial literacy. i understand mr. narasimhan will be leaving our shores in the not too distant future. we are of course saddened by this, given his tremendous contribution to our financial inclusion cause. we of course recognize that this is a necessary career path move and we wish him only the very best in his future endeavours. introduction – micro - insurance ladies and gentlemen, micro - insurance exists in fiji on a very small scale. however, as some of you know, micro - insurance is now the fastest growing microfinance product in the world, providing benefits to millions of mothers, farmers and small business owners. by definition, micro - insurance is simply … affordable insurance provided for low income people to protect themselves from financial shocks imposed on them through unpredictable events. while the risks faced by the poor are no different from those encountered by others, this group of people are more vulnerable to such risks due to their very limited resource base. therefore, they face a greater financial burden when hit by an unexpected event, such as the untimely death of a family member, deadly illness or injury,