Guatemala | Continuing to expand

 

• Aseguradora Rural has a 32% growth
• New product launched for the unbanked population
• Nine-fold growth with Seguros Universales
• Since inception, 40,000 households have been protected and 80,000 payouts have been triggered

It is exciting to see how the solutions designed with our local partners continue to position themselves positively in Guatemala, our first country of operations in Central America. Aseguradora Rural, the first insurer to launch parametric microinsurance protecting the vulnerable population against natural disasters, grew 32% in 2021. Meanwhile, Banrural has sold more than 40,000 policies since the launch of the first version of “Esfuerzo Seguro”, which is about to implement its third, improved version.

Aseguradora Rural also launched a new product designed together with the World Food Program. It is the first product de-linked from credits, and instead it is bundled to other interventions offered by this organization to strengthen the resilience of its beneficiaries in Guatemala.

Policies insured by Seguros Universales also grew significantly in 2021 (897%!), and, after an initial phase getting to know the product, they recently began to offer plans with higher insured limits to micro-entrepreneurs. Furthermore, the next aggregator is now ready to start distributing the product as well.

Since the first product was launched in 2017, products designed by MiCRO have triggered more than 80,000 payments in Guatemala, thus helping more than 40,000 policyholders to mitigate the effects of natural disasters.

 

El Salvador | Operations are Strengthened

 

• Seguros Futuro had a 200% growth
• New product launched for the unbanked population
• Since inception, 21,000 households have been protected and 25,000 payouts have been triggered

In 2021, an improved version of Produce Seguro was implemented to better protect the productive activity of small producers and microentrepreneurs. This protection is insured by Seguros Futuro and distributed by Banco de Fomento Agropecuario, and achieved 196% growth in the last 12 months.

Seguros Futuro also launched “Emprende Seguro”, a product that will protect the beneficiaries of the World Food Program in El Salvador and help improve their resilience to natural phenomena.

Since the first product was launched in 2018, products designed by MiCRO have triggered more than 25,000 payments in El Salvador, helping more than 21,000 policyholders mitigate the effects of natural phenomena.

Colombia | Version 2.0

 

• A new channel was added to the SBS Seguros Colombia program
• A new product was launched in collaboration with UNDP
• Since inception, 13,000 households have been protected and 2,000 payouts have been triggered

“Mi Inversión Protegida”, the product designed in partnership with SBS Seguros Colombia and Marsh to protect Bancamía’s productive credit clients, has regained pre-pandemic sales levels. More than 13,000 policies have triggered over 2,000 payments to date, which, together with the agility in the payment of claims by SBS, has helped to make this product’s protection more tangible.

Also with SBS Seguros Colombia as insurer, in November we launched “Mi Siembra Segura”, an innovative product designed for beneficiaries of the United Nations Development Program. The product is a complement to a community store project aimed at strengthening the economic resilience of Afro-Colombian, indigenous, and small producer women by protecting them against the occurrence of excessive rainfall events or severe droughts, in addition to offering them coverage against personal accidents. We are honored to be able to contribute to this admirable UNDP project, and to help families displaced by violence in Colombia to move forward.

“Mi Negocio Protegido” was another product launched in the Colombian market in November, with the support of SBS Seguros Colombia. With this new and innovative insurance, UNI2 – Microcrédito (formerly Finamiga) will protect urban entrepreneurs and rural producers against damages and extraordinary expenses caused by natural phenomena.

 

Mexico | A New Market

 

• A four-fold growth was achieved with Fondo de Aseguramiento Agrícola del Pacífico and Plus-Re
• New partnerships and collaborations were created

At the end of last year, we announced the conclusion of the first commercial agreement in Mexico with Fondo de Aseguramiento del Pacífico and Plus-Re, through which we reached corn producers in the northwest part of the country. The positive experience of the first year is being reflected with sales growth of 400% in 2021.

In addition, MiCRO is establishing alliances with microfinance institutions, cooperatives, banks, and other entities interested in marketing parametric insurance. As a result of these efforts, we are working with two cooperatives to develop affordable insurance for their members, and we have signed a collaboration agreement with Prodesarrollo, a microfinance network in Mexico that connects 62 institutions that have an impact on more than 5.2 million people. The agreement will facilitate the implementation of a pilot program with its members in 2022.

 

LATAM | MiCRO as a Trusted Partner and Expert

 

MiCRO remains an active participant in international forums, being a trusted partner and expert both in the insurance industry and in the academic sector. During 2021, we acted as a source of information and experience in different risk management dissemination platforms, including the following:

Bolivia
December 13th: The Micro Insurance Network (MIN) organized an event to share experiences around technological solutions to boost inclusive insurance. MiCRO presented together with other experts from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and Mexico to an audience of almost 100 in La Paz. The session was also transmitted via FaceBook live.

Brazil
September 27th: The CNSEG in Brazil invited MiCRO to its annual conference to share its regional experience with public private partnerships. This was a great opportunity to highlight MiCRO’s positive results implementing innovative solutions by early involving the authorities and other stakeholders during the product design phase.

Costa Rica
March 25th: MiCRO participated in a dialogue with regulators about index-based insurance in Costa Rica, an event organized by the Access to Insurance Initiative (A2ii). An excellent opportunity to highlight the importance of public private partnerships to succeed implementing innovative tools to enable insurance inclusion.
May 14th: With the title “Parametric insurance as a tool for inclusion”, MiCRO presented its regional experience expanding traditional insurability boundaries with index-based insurance during the Annual Insurance Association event of Costa Rica.

Mexico
March 24th: MiCRO was invited to share its experiences with “Digital solutions to boost insurance in Mexico”, an event organized by Mexican Insurance Association (AMIS) and the Micro Insurance Network (MIN).

October 28th: MiCRO presented how our solutions addresses needs along the value chain during the annual ANDE event in Mexico.

Peru
October 20th: The Micro Insurance Network (MIN) organized an event to raise awareness about technological advances enabling inclusive insurance. Participants were aggregators with access to the target population, re/insurers and the Peruvian authorities.

International

June 21st: The Microinsurance Center at Milliman invited MiCRO and two other organizations from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to their Annual Conference to describe their journey to building a business case based on inclusive insurance.

October 28th: MiCRO’s experience in Colombia, Guatemala and El Salvador was showcased during ISF’s Annual Forum in a session about innovative approaches to reduce the risk financing gap in LAC. The panel was formed by representatives from the World Food Program (WFP), the Interamerican Development Bank (IADB) and MiCRO.

November 25th: MiCRO took part of the VI Experts’ meeting of the Community of Practice on Agro Insurance and Holistic Risk Management of Central America and the Dominican Republic, organized by ECLAC. In the meeting, participants exchanged lessons learned and good practices by country for the last year. 

Back to all posts