INSURANCE
Educating the public about the benefits of insurance is just as crucial as the development of a superior product.
LIBERTY MUTUAL’S PURPOSE
is to help people embrace today and confidently pursue tomorrow. The promise we make to our customers throughout the world is to provide protection for the unexpected, delivered with care. In business since 1912, today we are the fifth-largest global property and casualty insurer based on 2018 gross written premiums. We also rank 75th on the Fortune 100 list of largest corporations in the US, based on 2018 revenues. We employ nearly 50,000 people in 30 countries and economies around the world. We offer a wide range of insurance products and services, including personal automobile, homeowners, specialty lines, reinsurance, commercial multiple-peril, workers compensation, commercial automobile, general liability, surety, and commercial property. The company has been in Ecuador for seven years and was created after the acquisition of two insurers, Panamericana de Ecuador and Seguros Cervantes. After some changes in 2017, the company created a regional operation unit for the Andean market, including Colombia and Ecuador.
WE NEED TO START
by highlighting the importance of exports for a country like Ecuador, which has a dollarized economy. As we do not have our own central bank deciding on monetary issues, the need for the inflow of dollars to Ecuador is vital, and exports is one of the main ways for dollars to enter the local economy. COFACE’s job in this regard is to cover the risk of default for exporters, namely when the importer fails to pay for the product. We play a critical role in creating a confident environment for export and import activity. Due to the effects of exchange rates against a dollarized economy, trade credit insurance policies are of special importance in Ecuador. Other countries tend to devaluate their currencies against the dollar to gain competitiveness, or there are situations where the currency just devaluates due to internal uncertainty, as was recently the case with Argentina. On Ecuador’s side, this means its exports become more expensive from one day to next, which increases the risk of default from importers. This can be covered by COFACE’s offering for exporters.
TO SERVE THE PRIVATE SECTOR,
our company decided to keep working on its core business, which is bond and credit insurance. Seguros Confianza began 33 years ago as a specialized insurance company, and we have developed most of our expertise in public bonds. The bond insurance market experienced extraordinary expansion following public investments after 2012. However, when public procurement was adjusted, the market for bond insurance contracted. We then decided to emphasize credit insurance and transactions supported by bonds happening between private entities. Hence, we created a product called Global Bond that is project based. Seguros Confianza becomes guarantor of the liabilities of the suppliers of the contract, assuring the investor of the advanced payment given to the provider to start the project, a security that the project will be fulfilled exactly as specified in the contract, and that the materials used for job are those described in the contract. Our private sector portfolio currently accounts for 30% of our business.
OUR STORY STARTED
almost 30 years ago when Aseguradora del Sur opened its doors for the first time in Cuenca. Four years later, we took the decision to move the headquarters to Quito. By 1997, we had become the insurance company with the most branch offices in the country and continue to be to this day, with 12 offices that assure our clients we have their back wherever they are. We have also made a significant and constant effort to remain competitive in such a demanding atmosphere and have worked intensively to raise awareness about the relevance of insurance beyond the transactional business aspect of it. Traditionally, knowledge about the importance of the industry has been low. So we along with other companies have had to do an exhaustive job raising awareness about it across the nation, creating a culture that looks at insurance as an investment rather than an expense. There have always been plans to create an institution dedicated to educating the public about its uses.