According to the publication of results for the first quarter of the year issued by MAPFRE, insurance premiums have obtained quite notable growth after the health crisis experienced worldwide by COVID and its different variants.
These premiums, which refer to the amount to be paid for insurance, have grown by 10.9% so far this year, reaching 6,538 million euros, with significant increases in all relevant markets and operations.
Geographic and business diversification compensates for post-COVID claims deviations, which are reduced by less than half from a year ago and the concentration in LATAM continues. For its part, the combined ratio of General Insurance, which measures the profitability of Non-Life insurance, stands at 92.6%.
For the Latin American and Caribbean regions, the volume of insurance premiums has marked a significant turning point in the growth of the MAPFRE company, as follows:
North Latam
Premiums in the region made up of Mexico, Central America, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua grew by 26.8% compared to the same period of the previous year, largely driven by the improvement of all currencies in the region, achieving growth of up to 576 million euros.
The net profit of this regional area grew by 25.6%, to 13 million euros, where all the countries of this regional area closed the quarter with profits and the premium contribution of Mexico stands out with 18.2% and the Dominican Republic with 17.3%. The growth for other types of insurance is also very positive, highlighting the growth of health and accidents with 26.4%.
Latam South
On the other hand, in Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Ecuador, all branches show an improvement in issuance compared to last year, with an increase of 25.5%. By branches, Life Savings stands out with 15.4%, Health and Accidents with 20.8%, General Insurance with 23.4% and Auto with 31.3%. Peru, which continues to be the country in the region that contributes the most premiums, grew by 44.4%, to 176 million euros. Colombia, for its part, registered an increase of 3.4% and exceeded 106 million euros.
Likewise, the growth of Argentina 32.8%, up to 63 million euros; Uruguay, with an increase of 31.8%, to 31 million euros, and Chile, with a volume of premiums of 76 million euros and an increase of 21.5% in the first quarter of this year. On its life savings side, it has been impacted by the update of the provision for sliding of the minimum wage in Colombia for an approximate amount of 13.5 million euros.
The reinsurance units closed the quarter with premiums of 1,360 million euros, representing an increase of 12%, and a net profit of 27 million euros. While the risk business premiums made an incremental close of 34.7% to 503 million euros, with a profit of 9 million euros, which represents a growth of 25.9% compared to the first quarter of 2021.
“MAPFRE has achieved the highest number of premiums in the last five years in a first quarter, and Latin America has played a relevant role in this evolution”, explains Jesús Martínez Castellanos, CEO of MAPFRE in Latam. “We have had strong growth in local currency. The prospects are good and this solidity of growth should be maintained in the medium term”.
