IFC Invests in Ukraine’s Insurance Sector to Expand Coverage and Strengthen Business Resilience

• IFC invests in two Ukrainian insurance companies to help strengthen their resilience and growth.
• IFC’s investment and advisory support seeks to expand access to innovative products and boost digitalization.
• Ukraine’s insurance sector can play an important role in ensuring business continuity and supporting the country’s path to recovery, but requires capital to grow.

Vienna, Austria, December 10, 2025—IFC today announced an equity investment in two insurance companies in Ukraine—Kniazha and USG—to boost access to innovative non-life insurance services. The investments aim to help ensure business continuity, expand access to insurance products, and strengthen Ukraine’s insurance market amid Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine faces severe social and economic challenges since February 2022, with recovery needs estimated at $524 billion. In this environment, non‑life insurers can play an important role in supporting the country's economy and reconstruction. A strong, well‑capitalized insurance sector, offering a diverse range of innovative products, will be essential to the recovery.

To support these efforts, IFC is subscribing to up to 20 percent of the shares in Kniazha and USG. The equity investment helps withstand current conditions and serves as a clear demonstration to other investors of the sector’s ability to navigate challenges and its long-term prospects. At a time when fresh capital is limited in Ukraine, the projects aims to unlock growth, strengthen resilience, and support the country’s path to recovery and reconstruction.

The investment will enable growth in new product lines while strengthening the companies’ solvency. IFC will complement its investment with advisory support to help the companies expand their offerings and develop long-term digital strategies. These efforts aim to diversify the companies’ insurance products beyond transport, to better safeguard other critical sectors such as logistics, agriculture, real estate, and health, while also addressing the needs of a broader customer base, including small enterprises, and vulnerable groups such as displaced persons.

Harald Riener, member of the Managing Board of Vienna Insurance Group and Managing Board member responsible for Ukraine, comments on the newly concluded cooperation agreement: “We see IFC’s investment in our Ukrainian companies not only as a sign of confidence and recognition of our expertise in the Ukrainian market. It is also a commitment to the country and its great potential, which both IFC and we continue to see. Ukraine is and will remain part of our core market CEE. We are very proud of the immense resilience of our Ukrainian colleagues, whose unwavering commitment ensures the stability and profitability of the companies despite the difficult war conditions. Together with IFC, we are leveraging the expertise of our teams and partners in the country to provide high demanded insurance solutions for the country's reconstruction once the war hopefully comes to an end soon.”

Vittorio Di Bello, IFC’s Director of the Financial Institutions Group for Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean, said: “By safeguarding critical sectors — with a focus on transport, logistics, energy, agriculture, housing, and health — the insurance industry can help protect assets, manage risks, and enable growth. IFC’s equity investment in the Ukrainian insurance companies injects scarce long‑term capital into the sector, sending a strong signal of confidence in its resilience and giving the private sector the stability needed to weather challenging conditions and drive recovery.”

The initiative will leverage the distinct market reach of Kniazha and USG to enhance access to insurance products across Ukraine. Kniazha’s well-established presence in Western regions and rural areas and USG’s extensive operations in major cities will contribute to broad nationwide coverage. Both companies are part of Vienna Insurance Group, the leading insurance group in Central and Eastern Europe and an existing IFC partner.

The investments complement the World Bank’s Finance for Growth Project, which helps Ukraine’s National Bank update insurance laws to match EU standards and improve the system for insuring against war-related risks.

Since February 2022, IFC has delivered $2.7 billion to support Ukraine's private sector, including over $1 billion in mobilized financing, as part of its Economic Resilience Action (ERA) Program for Ukraine. Through the program, IFC assists the Ukrainian private sector following Russia’s invasion by providing financing, with select projects receiving risk-mitigation support from multiple development partners. For more on IFC’s ERA Program for Ukraine, see here.

IFC’s work in Ukraine is part of the World Bank Group's broader response package, which has supported more than 20 million Ukrainians by helping businesses stay afloat and enabling the government to provide essential services, pay wages, keep schools and hospitals open, and carry out critical repairs.