Growth projections for 2020 in premium income are of 135% for Costa Rica, and 97% for the rest of the region.
A report entitled "Performance of Costa Rican Insurers in the Central American Environment" states that Costa Rica has a higher growth potential given it has "...
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 August 2014 the field of health and personal accident was the category which recorded the biggest loss, equivalent to $7 million.
A monthly report by the Guatemalan Association of Insurance Institutions shows that the categories of personal health and auto accident and were two which experienced the greatest losses in the month of August.
Insurers say the highly competitive market is generating large variations in the prices of premiums, particularly in auto policies.
Growth in claims, primarily in motor insurance, which increased 14% in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2013, is generating increases in prices of premiums.
Claims are growing at a faster rate than the premiums paid by customers, which rose by 9.94%, after going from $117,696,000 in the first seven months of 2013 to $129,395,000 between January and July this year. According to Berguido, these figures indicate that, contrary to what was expected, there are not yet "significant price increases" in premiums and they are not widespread.
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. "
The amount of premiums written during the first half of 2014 totaled $657 million, which is 12% more than in the same period in 2013.
Of the total of premiums paid in the first six months of the year, health insurance, group life and car policies accounted for about 45%. In the case of auto insurance, one of the fastest growing in the country, the total was $112.4 million, 9.78% more than in the first half of 2013.
The sale of life, accident and health insurance rose from $113 million in June 2013 to $148 million in the same month in 2014.
Figures from the Superintendence of Insurance (SUG) show the growing interest on the part of Costa Ricans in policies for medical expenses and life coverage. While the premiums for personal expenses policies, including the two mentioned above, grew by 21% last year, the increase in overall policies in the same period was 12%. In total they invested $566 million.
In the first five months of the year the volume of premiums was $545 million, nearly $50 million more than in the same period in 2013.
Automobiles, with premiums of $94 million and Health, with premiums of $91.8 million, are the sectors that grew the most compared to the previous period, with increases of 9.83% and 17%, respectively.
Carlos Berguido, executive director of Asociación Panameña de Aseguradores, said in Prensa.com that "... there are some industries that have shown growth, such as health and Automobiles, which are probably reflecting both the newly insured as well as rate increases and others who have decreased, such as individual life insurance and personal accident. "
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.
Low-cost auto insurance policies are rapidly expanding the insurance culture in sectors of the population who can not access traditional policies.
Since the opening up of the national insurance market in 2008 and the incursion of microinsurance in 2010, 64 different types of products have been created.
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 state run Nacional de Seguros and PanAmerican Life share 88% of the market in the segment of accident and health policies.
The segment for Accident and Health policies showed that up to March 2014 the majority market share was held by Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS) with 46.4% and 41.7% was held by Pan American Life, according to the Superintendent of Insurance (SUGESE). The remaining 11.9% is made up of the Insurers Aseguradora del Istmo, with 7.4%, and other market participants (Mapfre, BMI, Atlantic Sauther, SM) with 4.5%.
Two years after the amendment to the Law of the sector, the insurance market covering risks for short periods at low costs has been consolidated.
Banks and supermarkets are some of the outlets that insurance companies use to market a product that has established itself as a commercial operation with a low risk for insurers.
"The results of the implementation of Law 12 of April 3, 2012 are apparent to Jorge Barreiro Troitiño, corporate vice president of Nacional de Seguros, who said that just after 2012 the number of customers the company has increased by 50%, reaching 80,000 customers. "
español
2175