Between July and October 2020, the number of people in Guatemala exploring options for life insurance online increased by 3%, and the number of Panamanian consumers seeking auto insurance increased by 39%.
CentralAmericaData's interactive platform, Consumer Insights, monitors in real time changes in consumer habits in all markets in the region and in other Latin American countries, with fundamental information to understand their behavior, new trends and anticipate eventual changes in their purchase patterns.
The executive decree was modified to allow tourists arriving in Costa Rica to present a policy taken out abroad as part of the requirements for reopening international tourism.
The Costa Rican government decided to reform Executive Decree 42513-MGP-S and now foreign visitors will no longer be required to take out National Insurance Institute (INS) policies, the price of which exceeds $275 for a two-week stay.
Last year, total income from insurance premiums in Costa Rica accumulated $ 1,449 million, 8% more than reported in the previous year, a variation that doubles the 3.5% increase recorded between 2017 and 2018.
The 8% growth recorded in 2019 doubles the variation recorded in 2018, when the upturn amounted to 4%. According to the Superintendencia General de Seguros (SUGESE), the dynamism of the sector's sales represents not only a significant increase in the market, but also one that has been sustained over the last 11 years.
The Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo will contract insurance coverage of different types, for a one-year period that can be extended for two equal periods, at the option and discretion of the institution.
Costa Rican Government Purchase 2019LN-000005-0016700102:
Grupo Unity, a regional insurance broker in Central America, will be acquired by Willis Towers Watson, a company specializing in risk management and insurance brokerage.
According to a press release from Willis Towers Watson, the objective of the transaction "...is to increase the reach, scale and talent of Willis Towers Watson in the Latin American region, both for the Corporate Risk and Brokerage (CRB) segment, and for Human Capital and Benefits (HCB)."
Except for Nicaragua, which projects a decline in revenues, Fitch Ratings estimates that by year-end the region's insurance markets will have grown from 3% to 8%.
According to the report Perspectives of Insurance Industry in Central America, prepared by the rating agency Fitch Ratings, El Salvador will be the market that in 2019 will register more dynamism in the region, reporting an 8% increase over revenues reported in 2018.
The premiums paid for Compulsory Automobile Insurance and Occupational Hazard Insurance grew only 3% in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2018, well below the 9% reported from January to June last year.
The National Insurance Institute (INS) reports that between January and June 2018 and the same period in 2019, premium income from the mandatory insurance in question rose from $240 million to $246 million.
In Costa Rica, market supervisory authorities published a list of 16 companies that are not authorized to operate in the domestic market.
The objective is to warn the public about the risk of insuring with companies not authorized or supervised in the country and, at the same time, prevent unscrupulous people from using the name of these entities, without their authorization, to sell illicitly insurance in the country, explains a report by Sugese.
Between 2017 and 2018, Costa Rica's fire and property casualty rates increased from 18% to 33% and from 29% to 37%, respectively.
The general industry accident rate, which measures the proportion of claims payment expenses to total policy income, also increased in the last two years, from 48% in 2017 to 51% in 2018.
Data from the General Insurance Superintendence (Sugese) detail that during 2018 $139 million were paid for fire policies, and insurance companies disbursed $45 million for accidents and losses, which is equivalent to 33%.
Total insurance premium revenues in Costa Rica totaled $1.261 million in 2018, 3% more than in 2017.
According to figures from the General Superintendence of Insurance (Sugese), between 2017 and 2018 the per capita spending of Costa Ricans on insurance increased slightly by 1.8%, from $248 to $252.
During the first quarter of this year, the National Insurance Institute will begin to offer two new policy modalities aimed at the aquaculture and poultry sectors.
The Executive President of the National Insurance Institute (INS), Elian Villegas Valverde, explained last January 9 that the Poultry Insurance will cover hens for breeding, broiler and laying hens for consumption, while the Aquaculture Insurance, will focus on shrimp, fish and snapper spot.
Fitch Ratings forecasts that the insurance sector in Central America will close 2018 with a year-on-year increase of almost 6% and expects that in 2019 the business will reach a very similar growth rate.
The projected increase for 2018 and 2019 would be based on the behavior of the Panama, Costa Rica and Guatemala markets, however, the increases of 5.8% and 6.1% forecast for 2018 and 2019, respectively, would represent a slowdown regarding the 8.2% growth registered in 2017.
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.
In the first five months of the year, total income from insurance premiums in Costa Rica added up to $682 million, registering an increase of 6% compared to the same period in 2017.
Between January and May of this year, growth of mandatory insurance was mainly due to the 14% increase registered in occupational risk premiums, according to a report by the General Superintendence of Insurance.
Explained by the behavior of the Costa Rican market, in 2017 Central American insurers received $5.02 billion in premiums, 7% more than in 2016.
According to a report drawn up by Revista Desempeño Asegurador, in 2017 "... insurance sales in the region expressed an absolute increase of US $334.7 million, an amount that represented a rise of 7.1% compared to sales in 2016."