Gen Re talks regulatory requests and new opportunities
With new regulations in Mexico and Chile, an opening up of the Argentinian reinsurance market and an expected “lively” renewal season, it’s been busy time for Gen Re in the region.
Carmelo Galante, Gen Re life/health, managing director, Latin America, outlined these developments to FIDES Today.
Mexico has implemented its version of Solvency II even before the European Union, said Galante, explaining that this involves a “huge effort” by insurance companies that are devoting a “large amount of resources to comply in a timely manner”.
“Some players have had to postpone the development of new products or some technological innovation projects due to the regulation requests,” he concluded.
But Gen Re hasn’t slowed down on the innovation front—the reinsurer is driving business-as-usual developments that involve technology and innovative design to enhance day-to-day business processes.
Gen Re works with entrepreneurs and startups to deliver entirely new technology solutions for its clients.
Galante provided some examples: “Solutions that harness ‘behavioural’ data from smart devices and help with musculoskeletal and mental health conditions—both important causes of disability claim. Or engagement platforms that allow insurers to offer innovative and personalised services; support that helps people maintain or recover their health.”
In addition to the well-established markets the reinsurer already operates in, Gen Re is seeing possibilities in Argentina, which reopened the reinsurance market to international admitted reinsurers.
“Since July 1 of this year, international reinsurers can take a share of up to 50 percent of the reinsurance treaties. This is a big opportunity for us, but also for the Argentinean insurance companies, which can profit from our international experience,” said Galante.
Chile, over the last decade, has introduced new regulations affecting the pension business system and the process of public tenders of credit life portfolios.
Galante claimed that these regulations have been used as a blueprint for similar reforms in other Latin American countries and that, as a consequence, “reinsurance covers backing such pension business or credit life portfolios have been affected as well”.
From a life and health perspective, the renewals of life treaties in Latin America are somewhat different from those in other markets.
Galante noted: “In Germany for example terms for life reinsurance treaties are rather agreed on a long term basis, but in Latin America we usually renegotiate or adjust conditions on a yearly basis, which makes the renewal season in this region very lively.”
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