Latin American Developments

Subscribe to Latin American Developments via RSS

Insurance premiums in Argentina rose 8.8% to 36.12 billion pesos (US$ 9.2 billion) in the 12 months to the end of June, the Argentine insurance superintendency (SSN) has reported. The total in June 2010 was 3.12 billion pesos (US$ 793 million), an increase of 5.9% from May and 16.5% from June 2009. …
Read More Argentina: Insurance Premiums Up 8.8% in 12 Months to June 2010

In the days after the January earthquake in Haiti, some staggering numbers were reported in the media. There was approximately $14 billion in property damage, most of which occurred in Port-au-Prince, the largest city in Haiti, and 250,000 people were killed, either directly or indirectly, by the earthquake. …
Read More Microinsurance Going Macro, Especially in Latin America

EAPD’s Mark Meyer and Brian Green are attending the Aviation Insurance Association’s Annual Conference in Vancouver, Canada.  The conference is well-attended and informative.  There were several interesting CIE sessions on Sunday, including a discussion of the criminalization of aviation accidents.  Our speaker explained that the trend is that in Europe and Latin America, investigations into accidents also often included criminal investigations, and sometimes indictments, of the pilots, flight controllers and others who were claimed to be involved in the accident. …
Read More Aviation Insurance Association Annual Conference – Update

As a region, Central American (including Panama) insurance premiums rose 8.1% when comparing Q1 2010 to Q1 2009, totaling US$ 529 million during the first quarter of 2010.  Premiums for Costa Rica’s Instituto Nacional de Seguros, effectively still a monopoly holder in the market for the time being despite recent regulatory changes, rose 16.6% for the period. …
Read More Led by Costa Rica, Central American Insurance Premiums Up 8.1%

In July 2009 in New Castle County in the State of Delaware, three separate plaintiffs filed civil suits against E. I. Du Pont De Nemours and Company, Inc. (“DuPont”) alleging that their work at a DuPont textile plant in Mercedes, Argentina from 1961 to 2002 caused them to be exposed to and inhale asbestos fibers. …
Read More U.S. Lawsuits Based Upon Foreign Toxic Tort Liability: A Growing Threat?

IRB Brasil Ressegurous SA v CX Reinsurance Company Ltd [2010] EWHC 974 (Comm) concerned an appeal brought by IRB in relation to an arbitration award made in favour of CX Re and against IRB.  The claims arose from losses occurring in the 1970s and 1980s which were later settled by insurers, including CX Re. …
Read More UK: Commercial Court Considers Follow the Settlements Clause, Allocation and Recoverability of IBNR

In speaking with our insurance and reinsurance clients, one frustration that has been consistently mentioned is the difficulty of effectively monitoring legal and regulatory developments in the various countries in Latin America.  We have therefore recently launched a Latin American (re)insurance regulatory service to assist companies in overcoming this hurdle in a cost-efficient manner. …
Read More EAPD Launches Latin American (Re)insurance Regulatory Update Service