The OECD Consumer Policy Committee has approved policies on insurance and private pensions, and recommended improving risk-based supervision and promoting the participation of more insurers.
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Trade:
San José, January 31, 2018.After a technical review of the regulations in the insurance and private pension sectors (supplementary and voluntary pension schemes), the Private Insurance and Pensions Committee of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has issued a favorable ruling for the entry of Costa Rica to said Organization.
The Superintendency of Insurance in Costa Rica is planning to start the process of opening up the market for compulsory automobile insurance in the first quarter.
In order to liberalize the market for compulsory automobile insurance, there first needs to be a review and approval of a decree which will focus on the regulation of the sale of insurance from the National Insurance Institute (INS) to private companies.
The Costa Rican State insurance company will have to pay $174,000 as a penalty for "improving any offer made by their competition to their customers."
The Antitrust Commission imposed a fine of 94 million colones ($174,000) on Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS) in a case reported by the Superintendent of Insurance in 2011, a year after the opening up of the market.
US insurer BlueCross BlueShield, has announced the opening of its operations in the country, which will be part of the Puerto Rican Triple-S Group.
From a statement issued by BlueCross BlueShield Costa Rica:
Insurer arrives in the country with plans for complementary health
• Member of the BlueCross BlueShield Association (BCBSA), an organization of more than 37 healthcare companies in the United States and other countries and which serves, through them, over 100 million policyholders.
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.
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 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.
During the first half of 2012, the insurance sector in Latin America had a premium volume of $77,085 million, maintaining growth rates of two digits.
According to César Quevedo, deputy director of the Institute of Science at Seguro de Fundación Mapfre, the insurance industry is "key" to this global market.
On presenting the report, "The Latin American insurance market," the official noted that this "is a key region for the present and future in global insurance."
Distance marketing of financial products is a business alternative with great potential in Costa Rica.
Elfinancierocr.com reports that "distance marketing of financial products and insurance in particular, is an alternative for both for business insurers as well as intermediaries. However, when insurance mediation activity is regulated by the risk involved, it deserves special attention by the Superintendent of Insurance. "
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."
Four years after the de-monopolization of the market, the National Institute of Insurance holds 91.5% of insurance premiums and 12 private insurance companies have won the remaining 8.5%.
An analysis of the topic made by Juan Pablo Arias in his article in Nacion.com, shows that the main benefit of the new competitive environment is growth of the sector in terms of policies issued, which increased by 24% from the date of de-monopolization, with growth attributed to the lowered rates.
Oceánica de Seguros, founded on Venezuelan capital, is the tenth insurance company to be incorporated into the Costa Rican market after its de-monopolization in 2008.
The superintendent of insurance, Javier Cascante, said the company, which is the eleventh to join the insurance market after its opening, will have a joint operating license, for personal and general policies.
After the fall of the state monopoly on the insurance market, there is still little competition in the insurance ‘auto-expendables’ segment.
Despite losing the monopoly legally, the state run National Insurance Institute (INS) continues to dominate market segments, including "fast" insurance policies known as ‘auto-expendables’ in Spanish.