Expropriation: The Lloyd’s report acknowledges that most, if not all, of the Latin American countries have the capability to expropriate and operate businesses through already existing government-owned companies. According to Lloyd’s, the differentiator among the Latin American nations in terms of the risk of expropriation is the local governments’ respective attitude toward and demonstrated intent to engage in expropriation as a political tool. The report therefore concludes that companies would be well served to depend less upon “local friends” and more upon a developed understanding of where particular countries fall in the “economic/political and business cycle” as concerns expropriation.
Piracy and Kidnap Risk: Lloyd’s also warns of the potential for (re)emergence of piracy and kidnap risk as a major threat to successful business in Latin America. Although the report discusses this issue in the future tense, a number of Latin American countries have already seen a dramatic rise recently in kidnapping and terrestrial piracy.
Nor surprisingly, Lloyd’s concludes that in-depth understanding of the local political and social landscape, proper risk management and appropriate insurance coverage are all key to managing risks posed by expropriation and piracy and kidnap risk.
For a copy of the report, please click here.
For the Lloyd’s 360 Risk Insight group’s prior report on climate change risk, please click here.
If you would be interested in learning more about the Latin American (re)insurance markets and/or regulatory environments, please click the “Email the Editor” button and provide your contact information for follow-up by an EAPD attorney.
