Costa Rica: Reinsurance

The Superintendencia de Pensiones (Supen), the interim regulator of the Costa Rican insurance market, recently issued an opinion stating that the Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS) and its component entities are not permitted to engage in insurance or reinsurance business outside of the country, whether by acquisition, establishment or joint venture.

While relatively small in comparison to the major Latin American insurance markets, Costa Rica is the largest insurance market in Central America (excluding Panama).

Although all of the jurisdictions had notable regulatory and market developments in 2008, Costa Rica stands out as particularly significant given the the fundamental nature of the developments seen there in the past year.