Bradesco to offer low-cost life insurance

Brazilian insurance group Bradesco Seguros will seek to expand into the low-income segment next year by launching a cut-rate life insurance product, local press quoted its chairman Luiz Carlos Trabuco Cappi as saying. The new insurance product is called Seguro Popular and will cost 9.9 reais (US$3.43) per month, Trabuco said. The premium will provide coverage of between 30,000 reais and 50,000 reais, he said. Trabuco said that Brazil's relatively low mortality rate of 2.5% annually should be a factor that helps bring down the price of life insurance and boost penetration. The Brazilian insurance market is set to outperform next year the 23-24% growth it registered in 2003, Trabuco said. Bradesco Seguros is one of Brazil's largest insurance groups in terms of overall market share.