30 Aug 2018

Pan-American Life Forecasts $80 Million in Premiums and Seeks to Push Financial Education

San José, Costa Rica, August 21, 2018. Pan-American Life Insurance of Costa Rica, the country's leading private insurer is forecasting more than 17 percent premium growth in .2018.

“At PALIG Costa Rica, we are proud to see that the Costa Rican population has engaged with  our value proposition, and continues to trust our products and services. We currently hold 45% market share in the health insurance industry and plan to reach $80 million in premium by the end of this year,” said Alfredo Ramírez, Country Manager of Pan-American Life Insurance of Costa Rica.

Less than a year ago, PALIG inaugurated its new center of operations in Lindora Corporate Center. The more than $3 million dollar investment was a key component of the company’s growth strategy in Costa Rica.

“Since it opened, we have grown to almost 100 employees, and we have more than 500 providers in our medical network. We are sure that we are going to continue growing together with this country that opened its doors to us eight years ago and we are looking forward to celebrating 100 years here, just as we have already done in Panama,” the manager added.

New Challenges Come 10 Years After the Opening

For Pan-American Life, the insurance market in the country is still fertile ground for growth. Based on SUGESE data, the country's insurance market penetration is still relatively low at 2.3%, with mortgage and life insurances being the largest portfolios that are commercialized.

The figures are smaller for personal insurance, which only have 0.6% penetration. “This data shows us that we still have much to do, especially in the individual insurance market. Since we began operations in the country, we focused on our employee benefits offering. Now is the moment to generate one-on-one relationships, with individual products that meet the needs of each person,” the Manager commented.

Pan-American Life entered the Costa Rican market in 2010, quickly positioning itself as the major health insurance company. “The local operation in Costa Rica is key for PALIG, given that it is one of the greatest-performing, fastest-growing international operations. As of June 2018, we are the #1 company in health insurance policy commercialization,” said Robert DiCianni, President - Group Benefits.

Pan-American Life Insurance of Costa Rica, S.A. has a AAA rating, a Stable Perspective granted by Fitch Ratings in April 2018. This rating is a strong endorsement of the financial strength that enables the company to be there when its clients need it the most.

New Route: Financial Education

“We currently have the enormous challenge of informing people about the importance of having insurance. An informed consumer makes better decisions, and insurance is an important part of financial planning and being prepared for difficulties that may arise,” Ramirez added.

During eight years of operations the Costa Rican market has become an essential market for PALIG since, in addition to establishing itself as one of the major insurance companies, it has had solid growth in all the individual and group lines of business.

Likewise, the company led by Alfredo Ramírez has an investment portfolio of $43.6 million dollars, personal insurance premiums of $47.8 million dollars, equity of $32 million dollars, and assets of $97.5 million dollars, according to data from SUGESE as of June 2018.

Attention to the press:

Jason Garita jgarita@interamericana.co.cr
Melissa Morales mmorales@interamericana.co.cr