The Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Insurance Facility (SEADRIF) Insurance Company and the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre) have signed a Memorandum of Intent (MoI) for a strategic collaboration to strengthen disaster impact reporting and support the development of scalable risk financing solutions.
The collaboration will enhance preparedness for disasters affecting the region. The MoI signed earlier this month in Bali in Indonesia marks an important step toward operationalising regional solutions that connect disaster response systems with financial protection.
The new partnership paves the way for stronger reporting mechanisms that support consistent and quality-assured disaster impact information. Under the MoI, the two institutions will explore collaboration on a regional insurance solution that could support pre-arranged financing for rapid humanitarian response and recovery following natural disasters affecting ASEAN Member States.
The MoI was signed during SEADRIF’s inaugural Knowledge Exchange Day, co-hosted by the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia. The event convened over 70 participants from across ASEAN+3 and partner institutions, including representatives from governments, regional organizations, development partners, and insurance and reinsurance stakeholders working to strengthen disaster risk financing (DRF) and climate resilience in Southeast Asia.
Discussions during the day highlighted Indonesia’s progress in DRF initiatives, including its disaster fund, Pooling Fund Bencana, the country’s public asset insurance program, and ongoing work on catastrophe risk modeling and parametric insurance. Officials from Lao PDR and the Philippines shared lessons from implementing local and regional DRF solutions with SEADRIF. The program also included updates on SEADRIF’s evolving programs and initiatives.
Areas of intended cooperation include technical dialogue on DRF and its linkages with operational response under the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER); use of historical disaster data to support insurance product design; and joint workshops and simulation exercises that connect disaster response operations with financial trigger mechanisms.
SEADRIF Insurance CEO Mr Benedikt Signer said, “Effective disaster risk financing starts with credible data. This partnership with the AHA Centre is a step to push further in reimagining how insurance solutions in ASEAN can directly build on governments' own data and be integrated with core response systems.”
AHA Centre ED Mr Lee Yam Ming said, “We believe in the importance of disaster risk financing as a complement to humanitarian response systems. By enhancing regional cooperation and improving disaster reporting systems, we can support more predictable and timely financing that enables faster assistance to communities affected by disasters across ASEAN.”
SEADRIF and the AHA Centre will assess feasibility, refine technical approaches, and explore joint solutions in line with their respective mandates.