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Saturday, January 9, 2010
Today's News Headlines
* Colseguros January-September profits down 77% - Colombia
* Financial sector laws need to change, support transition to socialism - congressmen - Venezuela
* Principal aims to double mutual fund business by 2012 - Chile
* Feller ups Cámara life insurer to A+ - Chile
* Redrado returns to central bank after court ruling - Argentina
* Sagicor calms fears over financial health, explains US$19.5mn private placement - Caribbean
* IN BRIEF Cruz del Sur shareholders approve US$70.9mn capital increase - Chile
* IN BRIEF Zurich appoints 3 new CEOs in the region - Regional
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* Colseguros January-September profits down 77% - Colombia
Colombia's number three P&C insurer Colseguros - a unit of German insurer Allianz (NYSE: AZ) - saw January-September profits fall to 4.88bn pesos (US$2.48mn), down 77% compared to the same stretch 2008.
Colseguros' underwriting losses widened to 14.5bn pesos in the first nine months from 1.64bn pesos in the same period the year before.
Net paid claims were up 4.45% to 187bn pesos in the period, according to figures released by financial watchdog Superfinanciera.
The insurer's net written premiums were virtually unchanged as of end-September at 338bn pesos for a 7.54% market share.
Colseguros had 753bn pesos in assets and 118bn pesos in equity at end-September.
Allianz also operates under the same brand in the Colombian life insurance market.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Financial sector laws need to change, support transition to socialism - congressmen - Venezuela
Venezuela's legislative and executive branches are discussing changes to financial sector laws and regulation that permit the country's transition towards socialism, legislators were reported as saying on the national assembly's website.
The intention is to regulate the country's financial sector in an integrated fashion, treating the activities of banks, insurers, the capital markets and securities regulator CNV as a single system that supports socialism, according to finance committee president Ricardo Sanguino.
With respect to the banking sector, "it's necessary to establish rules that oblige banks to engage in financial intermediation, because that is what they were created for. Additionally, the profits from that financial intermediation shouldn't be speculative, because even within capitalism, [banks] were created as a mechanism to drive other areas of the economy," congressman Rafic Souki, member of the national assembly's finance committee, was quoted as saying.
The banking law dates to 1994 and does not fit with Venezuela's current direction, he said.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Principal aims to double mutual fund business by 2012 - Chile
US financial services company Principal Financial Group (NYSE: PFG) is looking to double its size in the Chilean mutual fund business by 2012 to reach US$1.2bn in assets under management, the group's VP for Latin America Luis Valdés told Santiago-based newspaper Diario Financiero.
"My perception is that the industry will have a very good 2010, growing at double digit rates. Not including the money market business, which is mainly treasury, the industry should not grow below 20-25%," he said.
Principal's local mutual fund unit commands a 1.80% market share as of end-2009, according to figures from mutual fund association AAFM. The group was also the leader among the 19 mutual fund administrators operating in the country's voluntary pension market with a 27.7% market share.
Valdés also said Principal will continue to grow organically and search for acquisitions to expand both in Chile and in Latin America in the business areas where it operates. It will also develop and offer balanced funds and asset management for institutional customers among its new business ventures.
As for the chances of entering Chile's mandatory pension business, the executive said the company keeps looking at that possibility but noted that entering under today's regulations would be unattractive.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Feller ups Cámara life insurer to A+ - Chile
Chilean ratings agency Feller Rate has upgraded local life insurer Compañía de Seguros de Vida Cámara to A+ with a stable outlook, the agency said in a report.
The hike is due to the company's solid financial structure, its conservative investment portfolio, ample operating capacity and support provided by its parent company Invesco, the investment vehicle of the local construction chamber CChC.
CChC purchased the Chilean unit of The Royal Bank of Scotland (NYSE: RBS) in April 2009 and then rebranded it Compañía de Seguros de Vida Cámara. The insurer won the contract for 27% of the disability and life insurance tendered jointly by the country's pension fund managers, the AFPs.
Compañía de Seguros de Vida Cámara had 25.5bn pesos in premiums in January-September.
To read the full report in Spanish, go to this link (http://www.bnamericas.com/reports/132609.pdf )
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Redrado returns to central bank after court ruling - Argentina
Argentina's central bank president Martín Redrado has returned to the monetary entity after federal judge María José Sarmiento ordered his reinstatement, local daily Clarín reported.
Redrado had been fired from his post on Thursday (Jan 7) through a presidential decree that will allow the government to tap US$6.57bn in reserves to pay debt due this year.
According to news channel Todo Noticias (TN), President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner picked central bank VP Miguel Angel Pesce to take over as interim president.
However, judge Sarmiento accepted a precautionary measure filed and has suspended the creation of the so-called Bicentennial fund until congress holds session, local press reported.
On Wednesday (Jan 6) Redrado was fired as a result of failing to support the government's economic policies but Redrado refused to cede power, saying he would remain at his post until congress decided to end his current term, which expires in September this year.
"I didn't resign and I won't resign," local daily La Nación quoted Redrado as saying as he left the central bank at around 3am on Friday.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Sagicor calms fears over financial health, explains US$19.5mn private placement - Caribbean
Barbados-based financial services company Sagicor came out to calm fears over its financial health due to a private placement of B$39mn (US$19.5mn) in December with the country's National Insurance Board that diluted the stock of its shareholders.
Sagicor president and CEO Dodridge Miller said in a statement that the group's capital position is strong and that the private placement was not due to pressing financial needs, even as it diluted existing shareholders' ownership by 4%.
He also said that Barbados' laws give the board the right to do such a placement of shares without asking existing shareholders for approval and without first offering them the new shares.
Sagicor's 2009 business plan had included raising capital through an equity issue in Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago and the UK to finance the group's expansion, particularly to take advantage of opportunities in the US and the UK.
However, after several months of working on the plan Sagicor and its advisors concluded that conditions were not good enough for an equity issue on the capital markets and opted instead for a private placement, said Miller.
Sagicor operates in 21 countries throughout the Caribbean, Latin America, the UK and the US.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* IN BRIEF Cruz del Sur shareholders approve US$70.9mn capital increase - Chile
Shareholders of Chilean life insurer Cruz del Sur approved a 35bn-peso (US$70.9mn) capital increase at an extraordinary meeting held on Thursday (Jan 7), the insurer said in a filing sent to local securities and insurance regulator SVS.
Cruz del Sur - owned by the local Angelini group - commanded a 3.25% market share with 52.6bn pesos in premiums for January-September.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* IN BRIEF Zurich appoints 3 new CEOs in the region - Regional
Zurich has appointed José Orlando as CEO of global life for Latin America, Eduardo Mareovich as CEO at Zurich Argentina and Eduardo Gutiérrez Helusky for the CEO post at Zurich Mexico, effective immediately, the Swiss insurer said in a press release.
Orlando has been Zurich Argentina CEO since 2007, while Mareovich joined Zurich in May 2002 as state property claims manager at Farmers Insurance Group and Gutiérrez Helusky joined the company in 2008 as general insurance VP of Zurich Mexico.
In the region, Zurich also operates in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Venezuela.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
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In-deph interview
* 2010: Investment returns back down to earth, caution the name of the game
Gonzalo de las Casas
Chief investment officer
AFP Integra
Peru
http://www.bnamericas.com/interviews/insurance/Gonzalo_de_las_Casas_,AFP_Integra,/169252744
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Main companies covered in today's news
* Banco Internacional del Perú S.A.A.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Banco_Internacional_del_Peru_S,A,A,-Interbank_Peru/169252744
* Banco de Chile S.A.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Banco_de_Chile_S,A,-Banco_de_Chile/169252744
* Principal Financial Group Inc.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Principal_Financial_Group_Inc,-Principal/169252744
* Sagicor Financial Corporation
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Sagicor_Financial_Corporation-Sagicor/169252744
* Interseguro Compañía de Seguros de Vida S.A.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Interseguro_Compania_de_Seguros_de_Vida_S,A,-Interseguro/169252744
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