Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) is setting up a new insurance vehicle with up to $30 million in equity capital as part of a strategy to improve risk management, strengthen capital efficiency and create additional capacity for infrastructure financing across Africa.
The infrastructure financier has established AFC Captive Insurance Company Ltd (AFC Captive), a wholly owned subsidiary incorporated in Bermuda and licensed as a Class 2 insurer.
The new entity will initially provide insurance coverage for loans extended by AFC to its counterparties, allowing the corporation to retain and manage a greater proportion of its financing risks rather than relying predominantly on external commercial insurance markets.
The captive insurer will initially focus on AFC’s own loan book but has been structured with capacity to expand beyond the corporation. Up to 20 percent of its underwriting capacity can be allocated to AFC affiliates and selected third-party businesses.
This gives the new company a potential pathway from an internal risk-management mechanism into a broader insurance platform supporting infrastructure investment across the continent.
Samaila Zubairu, president and chief executive officer of AFC, said the initiative was designed to address Africa’s infrastructure financing requirements through innovative approaches that could mobilise additional capital.
“Africa’s infrastructure needs demand innovative approaches that allow us to mobilise more capital and extend financing capacity across the continent. AFC Captive is an important addition to our platform, enhancing our ability to manage risk, deploy capital more efficiently, and scale investment into the infrastructure and industrial projects that will drive long-term growth and economic transformation,” he said.
The establishment of AFC Captive also builds on the corporation’s strong credit standing, which provides a foundation for the new insurer to develop its own investment-grade profile as its scale and operating capacity increase.
AFC currently holds an A3 long-term issuer rating from Moody’s, placing it among the highest-rated African institutions. In January 2026, S&P Global assigned the corporation an A long-term and A-1 short-term issuer credit rating with a Positive Outlook, representing its highest rating from a major global ratings agency to date.
The corporation has also received renewed AAA domestic issuer ratings, with stable outlooks, from China Chengxin International Credit Rating Co. Ltd (CCXI) and S&P Global (China) Ratings.
The ratings reflect continued confidence in AFC’s financial strength, liquidity, capital position and risk-management framework, factors that could support the development of the captive insurer’s own balance sheet and credit profile.
Wola Asase, deputy director and head of syndications at AFC, will manage the subsidiary as head of AFC Captive and director on its board.
According to Asase, the new company will give AFC greater flexibility in structuring and supporting transactions across its portfolio by allowing insurance to be deployed more strategically.
“AFC Captive gives us greater flexibility in how we structure and support transactions across our portfolio. By using insurance more strategically, we can expand market capacity, improve capital efficiency and unlock financing for projects that may otherwise be constrained by limited or costly external insurance,” Asase said.
The creation of the captive therefore addresses two interconnected challenges facing infrastructure finance: risk capacity and financing capacity.
External commercial insurance can be expensive or unavailable for certain infrastructure risks, potentially constraining the volume or structure of financing available to projects. An in-house insurance platform gives AFC an additional mechanism for absorbing or transferring those risks.
Over time, AFC Captive is expected to expand its insurance offering, deepen the corporation’s internal insurance expertise and develop tailored risk-mitigation solutions for infrastructure investment.
