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Building Support

Successful microinsurance products are built on good data.
  • John Weber
  • December 2018
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R. Dale Hall, managing director of research, Society of Actuaries, said insurers are still working to build strong sources of data that will support microinsurance products in Latin America. Hall spoke with A.M.BestTV at the LIMRA LOMA Latin American conference in New York.

Following is an edited transcript of the interview.

What are some of the opportunities in Latin America microinsurance?

There's a lot of opportunities across a lot of different product lines, whether that be individual life, or credit life in association with a loan or a mortgage, health and disability. When someone goes into a hospital, some sort of micropayment there, or even on the property or agricultural side. One of the big things that is needed, though, is more data.

Some of these products are offered, and claims ratios are not high, and you're looking to collect more data. I think from the actuarial profession's point of view, it's trying to get more data, use more data, study ways that you can use parallel data to make good estimations for claims and loss ratios.

Will technology play a part in helping the take-up rate in Latin America?

Mobile network operators and smart phones are really the tools that are being used to distribute products, to make premium payments, to make claim payments. There's a little bit of legacy of the paper-based processes because banks and mortgage companies and insurance companies have evolved that way.

—John Weber



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