For failing to comply with minimum capital requirements, the Superintendency of Insurance has ordered the intervention into Alliance Re Reassurance Suisse S.A. for a period of six months.
For failing to comply with article 47 of the insurance market law, the Board of Directors of the Superintendency decided to take over operation of the reinsurer for 180 days.In addition to breaching the minimum capital required by law, the reinsurer was late in submitting financial statements for the year 2015.
In the first nine months of the year premium income barely exceeded $1 billion, growing by less than 1% compared to the same period in 2015.
The premiums of insurance companies between January and September totaled $1.023 billion, registering a slight increase of 0.8% or $7.7 million compared with the $1,015 million in the same period last year, according to the Superintendency of Insurance in Panama.
In June 2015, the Salvadoran insurance industry recorded a growth rate of 4%, higher than the 2.4% increase recorded in the first half of 2014.
From a report by Fitch Ratings Central America:
Continuous growth: In June 2015, the insurance industry of El Salvador recorded a growth rate of 4% compared to the first half of 2014 (1S14), given a growth in the economy of 2.4%, according to central bank data.
The Superintendent of Insurance is preparing a bill to promote market development by encouraging the installation of foreign reinsurance companies in the country.
The bill, still in draft form, aims to attract major reinsurance companies to the country and use the market already operating in the country as a platform. In turn, the legislation would also increase "...
Auto policies are the fastest growing category, with an increase of 14% so far this year compared to 2013.
Lack of a culture of prevention is preventing the emerging Nicaraguan insurance market from achieving high growth rates in most policies. Car policies are the most sought after, but those for life, property and health are growing slowly.
"... In 2013, the insurance industry paid $40 million in personal insurance, which included life insurance, accident and health insurance and pension income; also in property insurance including car insurance, fire and other policies, $105.2 million was paid."
As of July claims for payments totaled $284 million, with personal insurance policies having increased the most.
In the case of personal accident insurance, registered insurance companies reported an increase of 13% between July 2013 and March this year. "...Within this category, those that grew the most were those of health and accident insurance, going from $26 million to $28 million. "
Between December 2012 and December 2013 revenue from premiums went from $138 million to $156 million.
The pace of growth in the insurance sector in Nicaragua increased during the first quarter of 2014, registering premiums of $43 million, an increase of 21% compared to the same period in 2013.
Laprensa.com.ni reports that "... of the total premiums sold during 2013, the property insurance segment accounted for 71% of total sales, receiving $111.15 million, reflecting a growth of 10 5% compared to the $100.56 million sold in 2012. "
Products in the category of life, accident and health lead the 6% increase in premiums seen in the first three months of the year compared with the same period in 2013.
Total premiums paid in the first quarter amounted to $42 million, of which 37.4% were for first party car insurance, 21.0 % for fire insurance and associated lines, 19.09 % for life insurance (individual and collective) and the remaining 6.01 % for health insurance.
The sector's share in GDP is only 1.2 %, whereas in El Salvador and Costa Rica it amounts to 2.1% and 2% respectively.
The insurance market in Guatemala has a lot of potential for growth. The share of this sector in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is 1.2 %, as opposed to El Salvador and Costa Rica where it is 2.1 % and 2% respectively.
Hermann Girón, president of the Guatemalan Association of Insurance Institutions (AGIS) explained that it is "interesting to see these figures because when you make a comparison of these numbers with the amount of people who could buy insurance, you can see that the market is big."
With an increase of 9% compared to 2012, in 2013 total premiums added up to $1.244 billion, a record in the country and the highest in Central America.
The Panamanian insurance industry closed 2013 with $1.244 million in premiums, while in 2012 the figure was $1.138 billion, which represents an increase of 9.2%.This figure is the highest in Central America.
In the last interannual period personal insurance increased by 11%, general by 5% and compulsory by 9%.
From a bulletin on the Insurance Sector in November 2013 by the Superintendency of Insurance:
BASIC INDICATORS
The total amount of direct premiums collected reached c436,3 billion in November 2013. The involvement of voluntary insurance equaled the average of the last four annual periods - Nov 20l0-Nov 20l3), 73%.
Industry participants predict a year-end in the red because of a sharp increase in claims for losses.
Prensa.com reports: "Although total premiums up to October 2013 was $976 million, with growth in the sector of 9.6% compared to the same period last year, the directors of the Panamanian Association of Insurers (Apadea) predict that at the end of the year there will be a loss. "
In the last five years penetration of the insurance market did not reach even 2% of GDP because people see insurance as an unnecessary expense.
According to Richard Cohen, executive president of the Salvadoran Association of Insurance Companies (ASES), penetration of this market has the potential to grow up to four times in the next few years. However, this depends on intermediaries applying the best strategies to introduce the product, because they will be the ones to negotiate the best options for a policy with clients.
Private insurers are beginning to outperform the state insurance company and have so far captured a 40% market share.
The ranking of the premiums made by the Superintendency of Banks and Other Financial Institutions (Siboif) reveals that in the case of Seguros América S.A.,in the first quarter of 2013, they led the market with 29.3% of the sector. The company following them is Instituto Nicaragüense de Seguros y Reaseguros (Iniser) with 26.4%, ASSA Compañía de Seguros SA with 18.9%, Seguros Lafise with 17,5% and Mapfre Nicaragua with 7,8%.
With the amendment of Law 63 of 1996 it is intended that international reinsurers will invest in the country making it a hub for the whole continent.
According to Luis Della Togna, Superintendent of Insurance and Reinsurance of Panama, a draft has been drawn up which amends the law and thereby strengthens supervision, control and regulation of the sector.