Ten years after the elimination of the insurance monopoly in Costa Rica, private insurers have managed to "steal" from the state company about 12% of the market.
Mapfre Seguros, Sagicor, Assa Compañía de Seguros and Best Meridian Insurance are some of the 12 private companies that have been competing in the Costa Rican insurance market since 2008, when the law came into force opening up the business which for more than 80 years was in the hands of a single company, Instituto Nacional de Seguros.
Fitch Ratings expects moderate growth in premiums in Costa Rica, increased interest in personal insurance in Guatemala, and stable performance in Nicaragua and Honduras.
From the report "Outlook 2015: Central American Insurance Sector":
Costa Rica:
Moderate growth in premiums
Since the Costa Rican insurance industry opened up to private competition in 2008, the market has experienced rapid and consistent growth in premiums.
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."
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%.
Five years after the opening up of the market, there have been 500 new products and some prices have dropped by up to 40%, but penetration is still low.
In an interview with María Morales from Markets & Trends undertaken with the Superintendent of Insurance in Costa Rica, Tomas Soley, the official explained that the opening of the market has led competitors to offer more value added products.
After five years of monopolization, there are 13 insurers, 17 brokers companies, 63 agency companies and 49 auto insurance operators competing in the Costa Rican insurance market.
Nacion.com reports: "Also noteworthy is the 442 products registered up to June this year, surpassing the 159 registered in the same month in 2010."
At the end of the first half of 2013, the Instituto Nacional de Seguros led the market with 89.7%, followed by Assa with 3.2% , Pan American Life with 2.9%, Mapfre with 1.6% and Adisa with 1.4%.
After two years of full competition in Costa Rica, insurers are keeping in place aggressive pricing tactics and incentives in the battle for customers.
In an interview conducted by Sergio Morales for Elfinancierocr.com, William Constenla, president of the National Insurance Institute (INS by its initials in Spanish), explained that the company has been forced to confront the price war by offering more services or range of products, offering, for example, zero deductible car insurance, which means that the insured party does not have to pay anything in case of an accident.
The Central Bank of Costa Rica is putting to public consultation the Regulation for Defence and Consumer Protection Insurance.
The regulation will be under consultation until 27 December.
Nacion.com reports that "According to this regulation, all natural or legal persons who are properly identified can make complaints or appeals with insurance firms provided these requests relate to their interests or legally recognized rights."
As published in the Official Gazette, Law No. 8956 Regulating the Insurance Contract is applicable on policies taken out from today.
Among the new features of the new, approved by the Legislative Assembly on 2 June, are the updates of what is considered insurable interest, the minimum amount of fees, definition and general aspects of the premiums.
"With this new legislation, a classification of insurance type (damage, fire, transportation, liability, etc.) has been established and conditions defined for life insurance" writes Sergio Morales writes in his article in Elfinancierocr.com
It groups all the insurance companies authorized to operate in the country.
Called ACAR (Costa Rican Association of Insurers and Reinsurers), it is chaired by Guillermo Constenla, head of INS, the National Insurance Institute.
“Constenla explained that the association has been created to assist the Insurance Superintendence in generating a more fluid insurance market”, reported El Economista.