Latin America's Business Information Leader
"The new BNamericas.com is already available for you, Get to know it here"
http://www.bnamericas.com/
Monday, January 18, 2010
Today's News Headlines
* Quálitas results beat expectations, prove business model - CFO - Mexico
* Mondial Assistance sends help for clients affected by earthquake - Haiti
* Sagicor Life ratings unaffected by Jamaica's selective default - S&P - Jamaica
* BancoEstado sells 1.4mn premiums in 2009 - Chile
* BBVA life unit books US$3.79mn profit in January-September - Colombia
* Feller assigns "in development" creditwatch to Santander P&C unit - Chile
* Macquarie launches infrastructure fund - Mexico
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* Quálitas results beat expectations, prove business model - CFO - Mexico
Mexico's largest auto insurer Quálitas saw written premiums drop in 2009, but at a far slower rate than originally expected, according to a company executive.
Quálitas wrote premiums totaling 8.82bn pesos (US$696mn) in 2009, down 3.3% on the previous year, the company said in a sales report.
"Our sales results for 2009 were much better than our initial forecasts of a 15% drop in the year," Quálitas CFO Wilfrido Castillo told BNamericas.
In December alone, the company had 1.07bn pesos in premiums, up 18.6% from December 2008. In the second half of 2009, the company had positive year-on-year sales figures in all months but September, after five of the first six months of the year saw lower premiums.
Sales through traditional channels totaled 5.28bn pesos in the year, up 15.4% on 2008, while sales through financial institutions fell 21.7% to 3.49bn pesos. Traditional channels accounted for 60% of sales in 2009, compared to 50% the year before.
According to the CFO, the growing importance of traditional sales, through agents, shows Quálitas customers' satisfaction with the company's services and the success of its agent outreach. "This result proves our business model," he said.
Quálitas had an 18.9% share of written premiums in Mexico's auto insurance market in 3Q09, according to the most recent figures from industry association AMIS.
By William Schatz
Business News Americas
* Mondial Assistance sends help for clients affected by earthquake - Haiti
Global travel insurance and medical assistance provider Mondial Assistance has so far identified hundreds of its customers in Haiti from the 28 countries where the company has operations, Mondial said in a release.
A 7.0-magnitude earthquake shook the Haitian capital city Port-au-Prince on January 12, devastating the city and causing widespread loss of life and damage to infrastructure.
Due to electricity and phones being out, the company is sending employees to the country to assist and evacuate customers, the release said.
Mondial Assistance, a subsidiary of German insurer Allianz, offers insurance products, international travel assistance and concierge services to customers from 28 countries including Mexico, Argentina and Brazil.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Sagicor Life ratings unaffected by Jamaica's selective default - S&P - Jamaica
Standard & Poor's (S&P) has said its ratings on the life insurance subsidiary of Barbados-based financial services company Sagicor was unaffected by the January 14 sovereign downgrade of Jamaica to DD from CCC.
The BBB local currency financial strength and global scale counterparty credit ratings on Sagicor Life, and the BBB- senior unsecured rating on the obligations of its finance subsidiary Sagicor Finance remain on creditwatch, where they were placed with negative implications on August 14, 2009.
"We believe the domestic debt exchange program that Jamaica launched officially yesterday [Jan 14] doesn't materially affect Sagicor's liquidity and financial performance. Moreover, the company's risk management practices seek to address its exposure to Jamaica, which is diminishing," the agency said in a report.
"Meanwhile, we'll continue to monitor Sagicor's strategies for managing this Jamaican exposure to resolve the creditwatch listing," the report reads.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* BancoEstado sells 1.4mn premiums in 2009 - Chile
Chilean state-owned bank BancoEstado sold 1.4mn new premiums in 2009, out of which 197,000 were insurance tied to a mortgage loan and 235,000 were insurance policies sold to microentrepreneurs, the bank said in its annual report.
The bank increased the number of outstanding policies by 11.4% to 4.16mn, with 2.25mn being associated to a mortgage loan.
BancoEstado's total number of insurance customers rose to 1.8mn, the bank said.
In the life insurance area, the state-owned bank has a 20-year partnership with US insurance group MetLife (NYSE: MET). In September 2004, MetLife took a 49.9% stake in the bank's insurance brokerage, BancoEstado Corredores de Seguros.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* BBVA life unit books US$3.79mn profit in January-September - Colombia
The Colombian life insurance unit of Spain's BBVA (NYSE: BBVA) posted a 7.45bn-peso (US$3.79mn) profit in January-September 2009 compared to a loss of 3.83bn pesos in the same stretch 2008, according to figures released by financial regulator Superfinanciera.
The insurer's underwriting loss was slashed 10.3% to 35.6bn pesos in the period, with net paid claims doubling to 160bn pesos.
BBVA Seguros de Vida's net written premiums rose 21.5% to 255bn pesos in the nine months for a 6.58% market share as of end-September.
The insurer had 724bn pesos in assets and 574bn pesos in reserves as of end-September.
BBVA also operates a P&C insurer in the Colombian market.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Feller assigns "in development" creditwatch to Santander P&C unit - Chile
Chilean ratings agency Feller Rate has assigned an "in development" creditwatch status to the local P&C unit of Spain's Santander (NYSE: STD), given the negative net worth the company incurred at the end of 2009, the agency said in a report.
The net worth shortfall was a result of the business growth the company experienced in 2009, especially in unemployment coverage, as well as other adjustments related to modifications in the insurer's reinsurance structure last year.
Santander Seguros Generales reported accounting losses in 2009 which totaled 2.20bn pesos (US$4.50mn) as of end-September, generated by strong growth in premiums over one year, which are highly capital intensive, as well as higher claims in the unemployment segment.
In a filing sent Friday (Jan 15) to securities and insurance regulator SVS, Santander Seguros said it has called for an extraordinary shareholders meeting on January 27 to approve a 6.7bn-capital increase.
To read the full report, in Spanish, go to this link (http://www.bnamericas.com/reports/133469.pdf)
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Macquarie launches infrastructure fund - Mexico
Australian investment bank Macquarie Group (ASX: MQG, Pink Sheets: MQBKY) has begun an infrastructure fund for Mexico with initial commitments worth 5.2bn pesos (US$410mn), supported by national infrastructure fund Fonadin and private pension funds (Afores).
The fund will target investments in areas including highway and rail infrastructure, airports and ports, as well as water and wastewater, Macquarie said in a release.
Macquarie has committed 750mn pesos for the fund, while Afores have agreed to invest 3.42bn pesos.
Meanwhile, Fonadin made an initial commitment to contribute some 1.04bn pesos, and will also act as a cornerstone investor for the fund, putting in up to 3bn pesos in total.
The outlay represents Fonadin's first direct investment in an infrastructure fund, and is consistent with the government's national infrastructure plan (PNI), which began in 2007.
The Macquarie fund is the first peso-denominated fund to focus solely on Mexican infrastructure projects, the company said.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In-deph interview
* Aiming to become one of the top five foreign players in the region
Fernando Concha
Latin America CEO
RSA
Regional
http://www.bnamericas.com/interviews/insurance/Fernando_Concha_,RSA,/170324328
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Main companies covered in today's news
* Penta Vida Compañía de Seguros de Vida S.A.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Penta_Vida_Compania_de_Seguros_de_Vida_S,A,-Penta_Vida/170324328
* Swiss Reinsurance Company
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Swiss_Reinsurance_Company-Swiss_Re/170324328
* Zurich Brasil Seguros S.A.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Zurich_Brasil_Seguros_S,A,-Zurich_Brasil_Seguros/170324328
* Sagicor Financial Corporation
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Sagicor_Financial_Corporation-Sagicor/170324328
* BICE Vida Compañía de Seguros S.A.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/BICE_Vida_Compania_de_Seguros_S,A,-BICE_Vida/170324328
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our Products
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Click Here to subscribe Now!
http://www.bnamericas.com/web_subscribe_now.jsp?idioma=I&login=atlantm1210@ukr.net&idForm=95
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Share the news, give your friends and colleagues a two weeks free trial
http://www.bnamericas.com/share_the_news.jsp?idioma=I&Act=
Business News Americas Ltda.
Latin America's Business Information Leader
eMail: info@BNamericas.com
© 1996-2010 All Rights Reserved.