S&P Issues Upbeat Report on Latin American Insurers

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has issued a new, and quite positive, report – “Top 50 Latin American Insurers Show Improving Fundamentals.” The rating agency cited “the growing economies, increased number of countries with single-digit inflation rates, low interest rate environments, and stable currencies” as important factors behind a recovery of the insurance industry in Latin American countries.

S&P said: “The report includes commentaries about the four largest markets covered by Standard & Poor’s in the Latin American region, as well as a list of Latin America’s top 50 insurers ranked by premiums and adjusted equity for year-end 2004 and 2003.”

“While growth is gaining momentum again in Argentina, and trends in Mexican companies point to stronger balance sheets, Brazil remains as a promising market with still-large undeveloped potential, and Chile is becoming a mature market with high penetration levels, but with decreasing growth rates,” noted S&P credit analyst Jaime Carreno.

The report is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect, Standard & Poor’s Web-based credit research and analysis system, at www.ratingsdirect.com. If you are not a RatingsDirect subscriber, you may purchase a copy of the report by calling (1) 212-438-9823 or sending an e-mail to: research_request@standardandpoors.com. Ratings information can also be found on S&P public Web site at: www.standardandpoors.com; under Credit Ratings in the left navigation bar, select Find a Rating, then Credit Ratings Search. All Standard & Poor’s research information is accessible for 24 hours after publication on the public Web site.

Topics Carriers