Insurance

2013 was not a memorable year for the insurance sector in Mexico, given the country’s overall slower economic growth. Enhancing Mexico’s low rate of insurance penetration has proved a challenge. With a premiums-to-GDP ratio of about 2% – compared to 5% in Brazil – the insurance penetration rate is one of the lowest in the Latin American region. In 2012 only 22% of the adult population was covered by some kind of insurance. In 2013 insurance companies in Mexico held $72.06bn in assets, corresponding to 5.7% of national GDP. While life insurance remains the main segment of the market, the automobile and health segments hold particularly promising potential, the latter favoured by the fact that many people in Mexico do not have access to health care. Implementation of key legal reforms and their effects on firms and the sector as a whole will be central to growth prospects going forward.