Many opportunities in LatAm fuelled by emerging middle classes

Low insurance penetration, coupled with the growing middle classes, presents a major opportunity in Latin America, says Margo Black, head of reinsurance for Latin America South for Swiss Re.

“Insurance is still a very low percentage of the gross domestic product in these countries,” she said. “As well as the growing middle classes, opportunities are being created by the considerable demand for infrastructure projects in the region.

“Even though there has been a bit of a slowdown recently, there is still ample opportunity in engineering and surety lines of business, and in motor. We see opportunities with telematics, as well as on the life and health side.”

Black also sees opportunities to provide solutions in flood, particularly in countries such as Brazil and Argentina that are less prone to earthquake and hurricanes. Another area of potential developments is capital management.

“With Solvency II and regulators becoming tighter on resevring and capital requirements, we feel we can bring solutions to many of our clients through reinsurance,” she said.