Latin American Developments

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Fitch recently released a report on the Brazilian insurance market that balances general bad news about the Brazilian economy with reasons for continued optimism as to the country’s insurance industry. …
Read More Brazil: Fitch Issues Mixed Report on Brazilian Insurance Market; IRB-Brasil Plans New Products in Credit, D&O, Energy and Mortgage Lending Sectors

In conjunction with its recent announcement of three new product lines for the Brazilian market, IRB-Brasil Re, the former reinsurance market monopoly holder, has indicated that it intends to continue to fight aggressively to protect its market share against the new crop of foreign competitors that have entered the Brazilian reinsurance market after its opening in April 2008. …
Read More IRB-Brasil Re Takes More Aggressive Approach to Competition by Announcing Three New Product Lines Directed at Brazilian Consumers

Argentina Official estimates of the number of swine flu cases in Argentina have reached 100,000, causing concerns about the potential impact on the nation’s economy generally and the insurance industry more specifically. 

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Read More Latin American Update: Swine Flu in Argentina, Premium Growth in the Dominican Republic, Coverage Issues Relating to the Coup in Honduras

As previously discussed in this space, a new draft insurance law (see here, here, here and here) and nationalization of private property (see here) have caused significant concern among insurers and reinsurers about doing business in Venezuela.  These concerns, however, continue to be at least somewhat counterbalanced by impressive growth in the country’s insurance market. 

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Read More Despite Concerns About New Insurance Law and Expropriation Risk, Venezuelan Insurance Market Grows 38%

While the ongoing protests and political instability in Honduras certainly pose potential business interruption issues for the country’s commercial sector, the Honduran coup has also now indirectly posed the same threat in neighboring countries Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador. 

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Read More Honduran Coup Poses Significant Trade Issues in Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador

London’s marine insurance market announced recently that it has withdrawn maritime war-risk coverage for Venezuela (including Lake Maracaibo), as well as the nation’s “Exclusive Economic Zone,” which stretches up to 20 nautical miles off the South American country’s shores. …
Read More In Response to Expropriation, London Insurers Withdraw Maritime War-Risk Coverage as to Venezuela

June 30th is the deadline for filing a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (“FBAR”), Treasury Form TD F 90-22.1 for calendar year 2008. In general, an FBAR must be filed by any U.S. person who had either a financial interest in or signatory authority (or other authority) over one or more “financial accounts” in a foreign country if the aggregate value of all such accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during the year. …
Read More Foreign Bank and Financial Account Reporting Requirements for June 30, 2009

Brazil’s insurance and reinsurance regulator, the Superintendencia de Seguros Privados (Susep), recently issued a report stating that that local reinsurance companies’ earned premium for the period January 2009 to April 2009 totaled R$ 1.3 billion (approximately US$ 661 million). 

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Read More Brazil: Susep Announces Reinsurance Results for First Four Months of 2009

By most measures, Chile is considered the third largest insurance market in Latin America.  It is widely considered to have the most stable market and political environment in the region.  These advantages, however, are significantly counterbalanced by the relatively high costs of doing business in the nation and the advanced development of the country’s insurance market, as reflected by the region’s highest insurance penetration rate (6%). …
Read More Chile: A Mature Latin American Insurance Market Seeking to Modernize