Insurance premiums jump 48.7% in March

Insurance premiums in Brazil rocketed 48.7% in March to 3.1bn reais (US$981mn) compared to the same month last year, regulating agency for private insurers Susep said in its latest sector report. Premium growth in the Brazilian insurance sector is currently driven by strong sales of private pension plans, such as the highly popular VGBL plan that comes with tax-breaks, Standard & Poor's ratings analysts Tamara Berenholc and Daniel Araujo told BNamericas from Sao Paulo. Demand for private plans is boosted by the ailing state of the public pension system in Brazil and also by the fact that plans such as the VGBL were only introduced a couple of years ago and therefore have a lot of room to grow compared to other more mature insurance segments, the analysts pointed out. Susep's insurance statistics include insurance policies, private pension plans and capitalization bonds. The industry's combined financial result also showed a strong increase to 486mn reais in March, representing a 51.4% expansion over the same year-ago period. The average combined ratio of the sector came in at 100% at the end of the first quarter, compared to 107% at the end of March last year. The average loss ratio among Brazilian insurers dropped to 61.4% in March, down from 63.7% in the same month the previous year.