Description: Recap of the Brazil Insurance Markets in 2008.

Description: Reinsurance News co-editor Ronald Poon-Affat discusses the morality and ethics involved in life insurance

Description: In this interview, Caroline Grégoire, formerly from Hannover Re, and now international mentor, coach, trainer and speaker, shares her views on how mentoring can support you on your career path and how it also benefits the reinsurance industry as a whole.

Description: In November 2011, a number of associations, including the American Council of Life Insurers [ACLI], filed comments with the Brazilian regulatory authority urging Brazil to stop restricting reinsurance access to only domestic reinsurers in one of the world’s leading emerging markets for insurance. This article examines the background and legitimacy of this complaint.

Description: When annuity products became prevalent in the U.S., they all looked more or less the same. It was where folks put their safe retirement money, yielding modest guaranteed returns with a menu of payout options to help secure their retirement. Over time, this commoditization lead to a pricing squeeze and an exhaustive set of product options and features, exposing carriers to market and policyholder behavior risk over the past decade or so.

Description: Feature article discussing the major issues multinational reinsurers face in Brazil.

Description: This article discusses the closed nature of the Brazilian reinsurance market due to the IRB. The Instituto de Resseguros do Brasil is owned 50% by the 15 insurance companies that are licensed to do business in Brazil and 50% by the Government of Brazil, but the Government owns 100% of the voting shares. All reinsurance business must be transacted with and via the IRB. The process, opportunities and risks associated with this scheme are explored.

Description: The Brazilian market is presently the largest life market in Latin America, so the recent news regarding the abolishment of the reinsurance monopoly there will certainly place Brazil on the radar screens of all major life reinsurers. The article describes the impact on the Brazilian lfe insurance market and the international reinsurance market.