Events
Grill the Expert:
Sid Miller OBE
Date: Thursday 30th April, 2026
Time: 7:00AM EDT | 12:00PM BST
Page Contents
About the Session
Planning—or already building—an insurance pool for households? Join us for a candid conversation with Sid Miller on the policy choices, trade-offs, and implementation challenges he has faced—and that you may encounter in your own reforms. This is not a traditional webinar. We’ll ask the tough questions, and Sid will share practical answers. Bring your questions or simply listen in as we surface real-world insights on what works (and doesn’t) in catastrophe insurance for households.
The session was conducted in English.
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About the Expert
Sid has led major climate resilience and insurance initiatives in the London market, working with organizations such as the Sustainable Markets Initiative, the UK Government’s Business of Resilience, and the Insurance Development Forum. He previously led ClimateWise at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and is now a CISL Fellow. He was Chief Executive of New Zealand’s Natural Hazards Commission, where he transformed EQC following major earthquakes and implemented a world-leading public/private natural hazard insurance model. Sid began his career as an engineering officer in the Royal Air Force, holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA, and was awarded an OBE in 2003.
Resources
Recording
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Jump to a section/question:
- 00:00 Welcome and housekeeping
- 02:45 Introduction of our expert: Sid Miller
- 05:54 Participant poll: How familiar are you with Household (HH) Catastrophe Insurance?” (Beginner / Intermediate / Skeptical / Expert)
- 7:07 We know that both public and private sector are key for a successful HH cat insurance program. For those working on these Public Private Insurance Partnerships (PPIPs) and looking for wide political support, why do you need HH insurance? What arguments would you use defending such a new program in parliament?
- 12:14 Many governments make such insurance mandatory: either to purchase, or as a mandatory addition on top of property insurance. Why would this be needed? It essentially is an additional tax on individuals
- 15:39 Many countries launched insurance programs, but they failed to scale. In best examples, only about half of households are covered. Can you tell us key ingredients to make these programs successful?
- 21:39 It is clear that it is key to work with other stakeholders and to create PPIPs, but what role does the private sector play in these programs? How do we make these programs successful for the customer? What is the role of the insurance regulator?
- 26:53 How do you ensure affordability? Who should be paying the premium?
- 36:23 Are there any examples on country jurisdictions that you think are successful in that area?
- 39:42 Have you seen the programs that are voluntary catastrophe insurance programs that have been successful in scaling up? What are the specifics now building those programs in emerging economies? Do you have any advice for developing countries in this area?
- 46:14 There are different types of disaster events. Is insurance the right solution for all risks, or only for certain events? And for frequent shocks, should governments prioritize other instruments, such as contingency funds or contingent credit lines, over risk transfer?
- 52:37 In the case of agriculture insurance, it often comes as embedded insurance with government subsidies. Could the same model work for household insurance?
- 55:24 Are there situations in which in which household cut off insurance is not appropriate? What can be done when the local insurance market is actually not very well developed?
- 57:14 What are the three takeaway messages our participants should walk away with?
Post event Q&A
These were the questions posed by the audience that we didn't have time to answer during the event.
1. Which successful country experience would you use as a model to introduce DRI in a country such as Tajikistan?
There are several schemes that you could look at that have chosen different approaches based on the regional risks they face and the Public Policy outcomes they wish to address. I would initially focus on the Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool (TCIP) which was established in 2000.
2. Under what conditions is catastrophe insurance for households not appropriate?
You need to understand the Public Policy outcomes that you are looking to achieve. There may be times when a sovereign parametric solution to support recovery at a government level is a better solution, particularly when the local market is developing. There may also be options when the socio-economic factors dictate that it is more important to have an alternative like agriculture insurance to enable communities to recover as famine would have a bigger impact than damage to buildings.
3. Should we rely on private sector insurers to provide catastrophe insurance or is there a role for government support?
My belief is that catastrophe insurance solutions work best as a Public Private Partnership between Governments and the Private Sector. Disaster recovery will often go beyond the cover of a Private Insurance Policy, and the government will be expected to step in. By working together there is the opportunity for government to support the growth of the insurance market, create greater coverage of household catastrophe insurance and enable a quicker recovery than would be achieved without Government involvement.
4. What role should governments play in supporting Nat Cat HH property insurance, what role can risk pools play, who should pay for the premiums, and should insurance be voluntary or some degree of compulsion?
Governments need to clearly define the Public Policy outcomes they are looking to achieve from Natural Catastrophe Household property insurance and design a scheme with the Private Insurers to achieve those objectives.
Pools enable governments to diversify their risk across all regions of the country to try and keep premiums more affordable. The challenge is risks may vary across regions, but this can be mitigated to a certain degree by selecting a mix of perils that ensure broad and equitable risk coverage and premiums.
There are the options of premiums being paid directly by households or using premium subsidies. Both can work, and premium subsidies can be an effective accelerant to build scale. However, there must be a clear end-point strategy when premium subsidies are removed, and households pay the premiums independently as part of a maturing insurance system.
Scale is key to building an enduring insurance market. Compulsion (mandatory) is an effective way to route to building scale. This can be either a direct legal requirement or a secondary approach whereby you can only get a mortgage/loan/general insurance policy if you have Household Natural Catastrophe Household Insurance. As with all elements of designing a Natural Hazards Household Insurance Scheme, all these variables need to be considered together and adjusted to ensure the Public Policy outcomes are achieved.
5. What resources would you recommend for beginners?
Please stay tuned for our forthcoming “Fundamental Readings” compilation. You will receive information about it in our newsletter (if you haven’t received the newsletter yet, please sign up at [email protected]). For previous Academy-related materials please see resources from the Istanbul 2025 Executive Education Program and from the Venice 2025 Learning Week.
There is considerable material available on the internet. My recommendation would be to focus on what has been produced by the World Bank and the Insurance Development Forum (IDF).
6. Public awareness campaigns, consumer education to build understanding and trust in mandatory Nat Cat Insurance is incredibly expensive and a long-term requirement… who should fund and what are the most effective communication methods?
I do not think Public Awareness campaigns and consumer education are in themselves expensive as citizens and communities need to be aware of the risks they are exposed to, and this requires broad engagement across Regional and Central Governments as well as Private Insurers. Much of this communication structure will be in place today, the challenge is how to work together to share a consistent story.
7. Are there any best practice examples you can cite in the oversight and supervision of public-private partnerships? Which country/jurisdiction's regulatory and supervisory authority is successful in this area? Are there any institutions you can point to as examples of independence?
Having an independent regulator with oversight of the insurance market and setting the standards they are required to operate to are crucial. There is no standout other than to say all effective insurance markets have an effective regulatory and supervisory authority. With over 200 Members there is good information available on the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) website.
8. For infrequent catastrophe events, e.g., earthquakes, is it more cost-effective to use risk transfer and insurance and to pay annual premiums… or to create a national catastrophe fund or lines of contingent credit?
This all comes back to what is the Public Policy outcome you are trying to achieve. Whilst earthquakes by nature are relatively infrequent, they are very costly whereas other perils may be more frequent and less costly, but could build up a large aggregate liability over time. Ultimately, the scheme design will need to consider all these factors and co-design a solution in a Public Private Partnership that will deliver the required Public Policy Outcomes over the long term. Building an effective Natural Catastrophe Household Insurance Scheme needs a long-term strategy.
9. In agriculture insurance rather than compulsory insurance, practitioners are now talking about embedded insurance with government-subsidized input supply e.g., FISP Zambia and IVS Ethiopia… this formula offers automatic insurance for a very small premium which is built into the costs of inputs and immediate payouts in the event a loss is triggered. Could one see HH Property insurance being built into utility supply - water, electricity with very cheap premiums and rapid payouts in the event a loss event is triggered for the HH postcode?
Definitely, where premium costs are absorbed into the cost of a service, I believe that citizens and communities are more accepting of the benefit that insurance can provide as opposed to the challenges and perceptions of individually paying a premium that may never pay out.