As the Insurance Development Forum marks its 10-year anniversary, few have witnessed its journey from concept to global platform as closely as Bill Marcoux, Co-Chair of the IDF’s Law, Regulation & Resilience Policies (LRRP) Working Group; Co-Chair of the Infrastructure Task Force; and member of the Operating Committee. Having joined at the Forum’s launch, Bill reflects on how an ambitious vision for public–private collaboration evolved into a mature, trusted partnership delivering tangible solutions to close protection gaps.
Drawing on his experience in global insurance law and regulation, he highlights the milestones that shaped the IDF’s trajectory – from the establishment of its governance structure and Secretariat, to the launch of the Tripartite Agreement, the Global Risk Modelling Alliance, and most recently the Infrastructure Resilience Development Fund (IRDF). Looking ahead, Bill calls for scaling ambition, accelerating delivery, and strengthening the legal and regulatory foundations needed to improve insurability and mobilise private capital for resilience at scale.
What originally motivated you to take on leadership roles within the IDF – across the Law, Regulation & Resilience Policies (LRRP) Working Group, the Infrastructure Task Force, and the Operating Committee – and what aspects of the IDF’s mission have most closely aligned with your own work in global insurance and regulation?
I agreed to join the IDF when it was originally launched. The concept of such a public private partnership was new and exciting with a powerful group of founding institutions and a compelling advocate – Rowan Douglas. I was asked to chair the Law Regulation and Resilience Working Group. This role aligned with my work as the global head of the corporate insurance practice at a major international law firm. Most importantly I was attracted by the opportunity to support a serious effort to improve the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable people. It was a rare opportunity for a corporate lawyer working for large international institutions. Of course when we started there was no guarantee of success, just a vision. As we look back now, I am sure few of us would have dared to predict the IDF’s success.
From your perspective, which milestones or turning points over the past decade stand out as most significant in shaping the IDF’s evolution and impact as a global public–private partnership?
Establishing a dedicated secretariat and hiring Ekhosuehi Iyahen as the first Secretary General in 2018 (there is no one better to lead the IDF) and the establishment of a mature governance structure in 2019. These steps have allowed the IDF to grow as a sustainable, trusted and reliable leader in building resilience and closing protection gaps
The launch of the Tripartite Agreement in 2019. This unique and innovative structure for public private collaboration to deliver concrete solutions to EMDEs was a powerful message to the world that the IDF’s approach PPPs can really work.
The formation of the Global Risk Modeling Alliance in 2022 which demonstrated that beyond just insurance solutions the IDF can help to develop technical capabilities including risk modeling.
The successful launch of the IRDF (see below) in 2025.
Law, regulation and resilience policies: As Co-Chair of the LRRP Working Group, where do you feel the IDF has made the greatest progress in supporting enabling legal and regulatory environments that can strengthen climate resilience and close protection gaps, particularly in emerging and developing economies?
Engagement with global regulators, including the IAIS, to advocate for a greater role for insurance supervisors in closing protection gaps. This advocacy aligned with growing interest from supervisors in this topic and opened the door to many beneficial discussions between the IDF and supervisors on what might be done. This work has also led to collaborations with supervisors and others to build regulatory capacity in various jurisdictions.
The launch and first close of the Infrastructure Resilience Development Fund (IRDF) represents a major step in mobilising insurance sector capital for resilient infrastructure in emerging and developing economies. From your vantage point, what makes the IRDF model significant, and what lessons does it offer about how the insurance industry can help scale investment into resilient infrastructure while still meeting commercial risk–return expectations?
The IRDF was developed by insurers for insurers. It addresses the unique investment standards for the insurance sector. It will do well by doing good and will use blended finance to help turn the uninvestable to investable. The IRDF is targeted at financing small to midsize infrastructure projects that will enhance the resilience of communities in EMDEs. And it will do so while delivering market rate returns for investors -which is essential if we are going to scale private sector investments.
The IRDF was the result of intensive collaboration among leading insurance investment professionals who brainstormed and worked for over 3 years to create the blueprint for the fund and then worked with BlackRock’s incredible team to perfect the architecture, complete the first close and launch the fund. The DFI sector has also provided critical support, including a significant investment by the International Finance Corporation, a portion of which has helped to derisk the fund. THE IRDF reflects the best of the IDF -innovation, collaboration and sustainable solutions.
The recent Increasing Insurability to Close Protection Gaps paper, developed by the LRRP Working Group, calls for comprehensive, coordinated, multi-party action to address the widening divide between insured and uninsured losses from natural catastrophes and sets out over 50 recommendations for stakeholders. What shifts are needed in how governments, regulators and the industry approach “difficult to insure” risks?
We need greater collaboration and coordination among all stakeholders. As the paper makes clear we need governments, regulators, lawmakers, the insurance sector, DFIs, donor countries and others to focus on protection gaps. And the parties need to coordinate -which means talking about what each needs and or can deliver -and then to act.
Looking back over your long involvement with the IDF, what aspects of this work have you found most rewarding – professionally and personally?
The chance to work with some of the most talented people in the insurance sector and the public sector. And to work on life changing solutions to the crushing devastation natural disasters cause.
As the IDF enters its second decade, what priorities or strategic shifts would you like to see the Forum and its partners pursue to maximise impact – particularly in terms of improving insurability, scaling resilient infrastructure investment, and strengthening the legal and regulatory foundations for resilience?
The IDF has succeeded in its proof-of-concept. It has demonstrated that PPPs can work and that an ‘Insurance Forum’ – where insurance sector expertise and capital, public sector actors, DFIs and others can collaborate – is valuable. It is now time to scale operations, dramatically increase the size of the programs that are developed and deployed and dramatically reduce the time it takes to deliver these solutions to market.
