MSIG USA and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company, collectively referred to as MSIG, have joined a new insurance-backed credit facility with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, aimed at expanding access to finance for banks and their borrowers in emerging markets.

Under the facility, MSIG is providing credit insurance support to IFC’s lending to banks and other financial institutions in developing economies, with the objective of increasing the availability of credit to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and other growth sectors. SMEs account for more than 90% of all firms and around 70% of total employment in emerging markets, but many still face significant finance gaps, making them a key focus for IFC’s mobilization programs.

The structure forms part of IFC’s Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program (MCPP), the World Bank Group member’s portfolio syndications platform for institutional investors and insurers. Since its launch in 2013, MCPP has raised more than $19 billion from institutional partners and credit insurers to support IFC lending to private-sector borrowers in developing countries, using both funded and unfunded structures, including credit insurance.

One of IFC’s largest credit insurance programs

The new $6 billion credit insurance policy is described by IFC as its largest mobilization under a single agreement and one of the largest credit insurance facilities arranged to date by a multilateral development institution. It is expected to support up to $10 billion in new IFC lending to commercial banks and other financial institutions.

Nineteen global insurers are participating in the facility, including AIG, Allianz Trade, Arch Insurance International, AXA XL, AXIS Capital, Chubb, Convex Group, Everest, HDI Global, Liberty Mutual, Markel Group, MSIG (MSIG USA and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance), Munich Re, RenaissanceRe, SCOR, Sompo International, Swiss Re, The Hartford and Tokio Marine.

The transaction is IFC’s fifth MCPP facility for credit insurers, bringing total mobilization under the credit insurance strand of the program to $15.5 billion and expanding overall MCPP capacity (funded plus unfunded) to about $25.5 billion. Earlier iterations of MCPP credit insurance facilities were smaller in scale – for example, a $2 billion package agreed during the COVID-19 period to support up to $5 billion of lending – highlighting how rapidly the platform has grown.

For insurers, the facility offers diversified, long-dated emerging-market exposure with relatively low historical default rates on multilateral development bank portfolios, and access to IFC’s origination pipeline without having to underwrite each transaction individually. IFC leads all deal structuring and due diligence, with insurers effectively taking a share of a broad loan portfolio, similar to an index-type exposure.

Why this matters for trade credit and PRI markets

Credit insurance has become a growing part of IFC’s syndication toolkit, sitting alongside traditional funded B-loans and securitization structures. The World Bank Group is increasingly relying on such risk-sharing tools to stretch its capital amid pressure to support climate, development and crisis-response agendas without large new paid-in capital increases from shareholders.

For the political risk and trade credit market, the facility is another sign that multilateral development banks are now regular counterparties, not just occasional users, of private insurance capacity. IFC’s dedicated credit insurance program is aimed at insurers seeking uncorrelated returns, long-tenor assets and exposure in regions where they may not have direct origination capabilities.

MSIG has been expanding its political risk and trade credit capabilities globally, including a 2025 initiative linking MSIG USA with MSIG Singapore and MSIG Hong Kong to build out the group’s offering in Asia. That collaboration leverages MSIG USA’s underwriting expertise and MSIG Asia’s local market presence to meet growing demand for political risk and trade credit solutions amid heightened geopolitical and economic uncertainty. Participation in the IFC facility is consistent with that strategy, adding a large, highly diversified portfolio of emerging-market financial institution risk to MSIG’s book.

Mobilizing private capital for development

IFC views credit insurance facilities of this type as a way to unlock larger volumes of investment and enable more lending to SMEs and other key sectors in emerging markets by sharing risk with private insurers on an unfunded basis.

“This credit insurance facility shows how private insurers can unlock larger investments and enable more lending to small and medium-sized businesses in emerging markets,” said Kevin Njiraini, Director of Syndicated Loans and Mobilization at IFC. “We thank MSIG for their partnership in delivering this facility, which mobilizes insurers’ underwriting capacity to drive growth and create jobs.”

Through the partnership, MSIG supports IFC’s mandate to promote private-sector development, job creation and economic resilience in emerging and developing economies, while adding a diversified stream of long-dated, investment-grade risk to its own political risk and trade credit portfolio.