2023-06-26 12:55:03
In 2018, this entity identified three life policies belonging to insurers domiciled outside of Peru. However, from a Peruvian insurance company they indicate to Gestión that this continues to happen today. From the Association of Insurance Companies (Apeseg) they second him.
What are users exposed to when contracting this type of service? Here we explain it to you.
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Validity
“Some international companies, some not formalized, have taken advantage of the space in Peru to sell insurance with differentiated coverage and costs, a little more customizable,” a senior official from a Peruvian insurer authorized by the SBS told this newspaper.
Consulted for this, Eduardo Morón, president of Apeseg, told Gestión that the insurance executive’s complaint is still valid. “This started with life policies for high net worth people, but has been going down to lower net worth, health. Travel is different because it is managed with assistance and it is clearer who supports you, ”he explains.
Similarly, Miguel Meza, former president of the Association of Insurance Brokers (Ascorse), assures that his presence dates back to the eighties. “They brought new products. They were safe for socioeconomic levels A or B, who could travel and compare with what was sold here, ”he recalls.
In August 2018, SBS launched a alert about matter. That year the entity warned that life policies from the firms Best Meridian Insurance, National Western Life Insurance and Pan American Life Insurance were being sold in Peru without its approval.
“The SBS has verified that there are natural and legal persons that have been offering life insurance policies issued abroad in Peru, without such persons having authorization from the SBS to market insurance policies,” the document says.
Currently, the portals of the three listed companies are accessible from Peru. Some have Facebook pages in a local version, although with intermittent activity. All three are authorized by the regulatory bodies of other countries in the region such as the United States, but not by the SBS.
Since 2018, there are no more reports from the entity in this regard. Daniel Reátegui, coordinator of the Supervision of Informal Activities of the SBS, told Management that if they have not launched more alerts since then it is because the majority of complaints are about banking.
However, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. “There are inquiries about offers. It is not prohibited that they attract clients from outside. The problem is if they do it here. The complaints have lacked support: they say that she is a foreigner, but they do not know her legal representatives because they say that the contact was by mail. Some are formally foreign, we cannot tell them anything because they are authorized abroad, ”he explains.
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on your own
Although contracting foreign insurers is not prohibited, consumer exposure is high: if a problem occurs –such as ignorance of the contract– the SBS will not be able to support it.
“It is a free decision, but they must take into account that we do not supervise this company. In this sense, the policy that you sign will be regulated by the regulations of the country of origin where the contract was signed. If you have a problem, you will have to claim it on those sides, here you cannot question it”, says Reátegui from SBS.
For this reason, Morón suggests that users “not fall in love” with the differentiated offers that international companies may have. “They must understand that they will not have further protection against a claim for denied coverage. This puts a large share of doubt regarding the true value of the service”, says the president of Apeseg.
Meza, for his part, explains that if, despite the risk, users have the resources and need to take out insurance of this type, they should not do so without consulting a broker.
“The broker can guide you, but not as an intermediary, that is prohibited. He can verify your coverage and deductibles to match what they tell you to offer, but not recommend hiring you, ”suggests the former president of Ascorse.
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Market impact
Without greater capacity than that indicated, the SBS leaves formal insurers exposed to a series of inconveniences.
The most obvious is unfair competition, which affects your income. “One service is cheaper than another because they don’t pay taxes either. There is a use. If I am not registered in Peru and I sell you that policy from an office that does not respond to the regulator, I save a series of operating costs that are not minor”, claims Morón de Apeseg.
Interest in these services also exposes licensed brokers to penalties. “They can suspend you or lose your patent because the SBS prohibits intermediation in insurance that is not registered with them,” says Meza.
Despite this, he assures that some insurance brokers do mediate because they obtain higher commissions. “Some do it because that business does not pass State filters. You sell it and there is an agent who pays you for the placement, but it is a private agreement that people do without the risk of the patent”, explains the former president of Ascorse.
Obtaining authorization from the SBS, which has two parts (business organization and operation), can take 3 years. While one insurer is formalized, the other informal ones attract clients from day one. “It is a hyper-regulated market. We tell SBS that it should not be so slow. A company that left Peru told me that in Singapore they incorporated it in 3 months”, claims Morón.
The president of Apeseg reminds Gestión that, in 2018 when the entity issued its alert, they asked them to use their attorney to “pursue” these entities, as they do with unauthorized firms that take deposits, but there was no response. .
Reátegui doesn’t think it’s a bad idea, but with one caveat. “Some people do not provide adequate evidence for fear of giving up their identity or admitting they have been scammed. If we go to the Prosecutor’s Office like this, what is intended to be sought with the complaint can harm the SBS: the informals could go to the public with a favorable tax resolution ”, warns the official.
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Data
To obtain authorization from the SBS, an insurer must prove economic solvency, technical suitability and shareholders, among other requirements. Currently, there are 17 companies in the list of authorized insurers from SBS.
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