Río sees insurance revenues growing 25% in 2005

Argentine insurer Río Seguros sees its revenues growing 25% this year to US$20mn as it focuses on selling to small and medium-sized companies, its CEO Víctor Cardinali told BNamericas. Next year revenues could growth 25-35% depending on the performance of the economy, Cardinali said. Río Seguros distributes its policies through local bank Banco Río, a unit of Spain's Santander (NYSE: STD), as well as brokers. During the last several years the insurance company has grown aggressively in individual lines not linked to the bank's loan products. Argentina's economic crisis in 2002 forced Banco Río and rival banks to squeeze more revenues out of their insurance units to compensate for a drop in their core lending and commission revenues.