In Costa Rica private insurers have come into the market, primarily selling life and car insurance, with customers seeing lower rates.
Although the National Institute of Insurance (INS) remains the undisputed market leader, private insurers are gradually gaining ground, particularly in the areas of auto and life policies.
The INS, an agency which has been in existence for 84 years, still controls 97% of the auto insurance market and 94% of life policies. In the former, in which $200 million worth of business was done in 2011, only Mapfre Seguros has taken a toll on the quasi-monopoly of the INS, taking 3% of the market, according to data released by Nacion.com.
Pan American Life Insurance Costa Rica S.A. was authorized to operate by Sugese, the Insurance Superintendence.
The insurance company requested authorization on September 2009, and has now become the sixth to enter the Costa Rican market.
“The authorization does not imply its immediate operation, it must sill comply with other requisites established in the Insurance Market Law”, reported Elfinancierocr.com.