Tag: insurance

Fernando Sucre, R5: Helping Colombians improve their financial health, Ep 189

Category : Crossing Borders Podcast
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You can now find the full show notes of the Crossing Borders podcast on LatamList.com’s new podcast section. I’ll still post the audio of the podcast on my blog and I’m planning to start writing more again on my blog, like I used to.

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Thanks for listening to Crossing Borders all these years! If you have any feedback or questions, please feel free to reach out here, or contact me on social media.

Outline of this episode:

  • [01:10] – About R5
  • [01:37] – Insurance and lending for vehicles in Colombia
  • [03:07] – Fernando’s background
  • [03:50] – Steps that Fernando took to start his own business
  • [07:50] – Fernando’s decision to move to Colombia
  • [09:22] – About ComparaMejor
  • [10:32] – Starting a tech company in 2011 in Colombia
  • [13:37] – From R5’s idea to creating a business
  • [16:41] – How R5 became the business it is today
  • [19:29] – Special characteristics of the Colombian lending and insurance market
  • [21:08] – Advice to younger self
  • [22:34] – Book and podcast recommendations
  • [24:25] – What’s next for R5

Shownotes on Latamlist.com

An Overview of the Insurtech Industry in Latin America

Category : Latin America Startups and Investing
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The insurtech industry worldwide received over US$2.3B in investment in 2017, a 36% increase from the year before. From 2014 to 2017, the Latin American share of the insurtech market grew from 1% to 7.6%, and the number of insurtech startups increased by 114% in 2017. This uptick is logical as insurance plays a vital role in stabilizing emerging economies and minimizing risk.

Latin America is underinsured, despite steadily growing incomes over the past two decades. Currently, insurance penetration, calculated as the ratio between insurance premiums written and GDP, hovers between 2-4% across the region compared to 6.2% globally and 7.3% in the US, the world leader, in 2015. Latin America still lags behind the rest of the world in insurance coverage.

As Latin America’s most developed economy, Chile is also the most developed insurance market in Latin America. Earthquake insurance is required for all mortgages and after Chile’s 2010 earthquake, a group of mostly international insurers paid out claims that reached around 4% of Chile’s GDP.

Compared to the rest of the region, Chile has a relatively open and well-regulated insurance industry. While Brazil has become a top player in insurtech, the insurance industry in Brazil is mired in complex regulations. Still, growing middle classes across Latin America have yet to invest heavily in comprehensive insurance policies for a host of reasons.

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