Panama-based financial group Grupo Mundial is preparing to enter the Costa Rican and Colombian insurance markets in 2009, Jaime Jean François, VP and general manager of the firm's investment vehicle Mundial Desarrollo, told BNamericas.
"We want to enter the Costa Rican insurance market during the first half of the next year," the executive said on the sidelines of insurance and financial services association Limra's Latin American conference.
Costa Rica opened its local insurance market for foreign players last July, ending an 84-year monopoly by state-run Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS).
In Costa Rica - Central America's second largest insurance industry behind Panama - Grupo Mundial owns insurance broker Círculo de Protección Total.
François said Grupo Mundial plans to enter the Colombian insurance market after establishing operations in Costa Rica.
In Colombia, Grupo Mundial has a 51% stake in consumer finance company Giros & Finanzas through its subsidiary Banvivienda. Giros & Finanzas' main business is remittances as it is the Colombian agent of Western Union (NYSE: WU).
"It makes a lot of sense to complement our consumer finance operations with insurance operations," said the executive.
Grupo Mundial has grown from having a presence in only Panama three years ago to now running insurance operations in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
Grupo Mundial held US$1.23bn in assets and US$240mn in equity as of June 30.
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