Exporting companies from El Salvador are demanding an integral exports policy from the Government.
According to the Corporation of Exporting Companies, known as COEXPORT, the most important items of such policy should be a financial guarantee fund and credit insurance.
Silvia Cuéllar, head of Coexport, detailed both financial instruments to Laprensagrafica.com: "Credit insurance will be a guarantee for exporters having problems with their products, and the guarantee fund will provide greater protection for the entrepreneur".
Greater numbers of families and businesses are insuring their homes and businesses against burglary.
The information from the National Insurance Institute (INS) which compares sales from the first semester of 2005 with the same period in 2008 show an increase of 11%.
From 2005 to 2008 the number of insurance policies against burglary that were sold increased from 2,450 to 2,700.
Insurance companies have reported positive results for the period from January to June of this year.
Pedro Geoffroy, president of the Salvadoran Association of Insurance Companies (ASES), explained that despite the tough economic environment there was an increase of 11.7% in premiums, that is, the amount of insurance policies the companies manage to sell in the market. These totaled $206.3 million for the first half of the year.
The entity hopes to enter Nicaragua before the end of the year and the rest of Central America by next year.
INS (National Insurance Institute) will offer its products by acquiring an already established insurance firm in each of the countries or directly under the name of the "INS Internacional" corporation. The corporation will be established within two to three weeks and will be used to lead the effort to enter the region's insurance market.
The Central Bank of Honduras has increased the minimum amount of capital required for insurers and re-insurers by amounts ranging from 262,881 dollars to 788,643.
The demand for capital is independent of the request for higher reserves for insurers.
Under the rules, the monetary authority reviews capital requirements every two years. The amount is based on economic growth of the nation, which was 6.3 percent in 2007.
Costa Rica's passage of the Law to Regulate the Insurance Market has brought the National Insurance Company to a new stage, under which it gives up monopoly status at home but is allowed to enter foreign markets.
As a first stage of the internationalization of operations, the company is proposing to expand into Nicaragua over the next six months, and in 2009 it plans to enter the Panamanian marketplace.
Authorities of Costa Rica's state insurance company say they're ready to face competition and to operate throughout the region.
Several companies are expected to take advantage of the opening of the insurance market.
The passage of law amendment opening the insurance industry is part of the process of preparing to join the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States.
Five firms presented the Panama Canal Authority with bids for a contract to provide an insurance corridor on three contracts in the program to increase the canal's capacity.
Willis Ltd., of the United Kingdom, presented the lowest bid, US$695,000, followed by Marsh USA with US$825,525. The other bids were received from Jardine Lloyd Thompson of the UK, Arthur Gallagher & Co. of the US, and AON Global of Mexico.
Costa Rica's Congress approved a bill that will remove the state's monopoly of the insurance market.
As stipulated by the Constitutional Court, the bill was passed by a simple majority on a second reading. The bill also includes measures to strengthen the state insurance sector.
Costa Rica's state insurer, Instituto de Seguros de Costa Rica (INS), could sell insurance in other countries by creating a corporation.
The Constitutional Chamber has cleared the way legally for INS to sell its services abroad.
This has reawakened plans for the insurer to expand into Nicaragua and Panama, which it proposed as early as last Decmber.
Panama's Interoceánica de Seguros reports that its auto insurance sales have increased by 85 percent so far this year compared with the same period of 2007.
Salvador Morales Baca, the company's general manager, said auto insurance was a risky though profitable business.
Panama-based insurance companies wrote US$236 million in premiums in the first quarter, a 31 percent increase on the same period of last year.
Mauricio De la Guardia, president of the Panamanian Insurance Association, said the rate of growth was likely to be maintained in the second quarter as well.
Alesia Rodríguez, one of the leading speakers at the Second Central American Insurance Symposium, suggested that companies in the region should offer micro-policies to the poor.
Micro-policies could cover health and funeral services, two of the main concerns of people of all social classes, Rodríguez said. Micro-policies for funeral expenses had proved particularly popular in other countries, she added.
In an effort to expand their market, insurers in El Salvador are weighing the possibility of following the example of their counterparts in Mexico who offer micro-policies that provide benefits of as much as US$8,000 for a one-dollar premium.
"This type of insurance is very interesting because it brings our industry's benefits to poor people who don't figure on company payrolls," said Raúl Betancourt, executive director of the Salvadoran Insurers' Association (Ases).
Legislation to end an 84-year insurance monopoly in Costa Rica recently received first reading in the Legislative Assembly. The bill includes several important changes for the insurance industry.
It would allow insurance operations to be carried out by approved companies, including cross-border insurance for several cases regulated by the legislation. These include re-insurance and the assignment of insurance risks to foreign companies.