Brazilian reinsurance firm Austral Re is seeking to add diversification to its business model with greater expansion into Latin America and other regions internationally as well.
Austral Re, which is partly backed by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) as a shareholder, has been expanding out of its home country as it found a need to add geographic diversification to its model in order to more rapidly scale up its underwriting business.
As a result, the reinsurer has been writing business in ten Latin American countries and continues to expand there, having most recently been approved to underwrite in Colombia and Ecuador.
Austral Re is also awaiting approval to commence underwriting operations in Nicaragua and Honduras as well, adding to its regional scope.
As well as underwriting across Latin America, Austral Re has also been writing some retrocessional reinsurance from outside of the region.
This is seen as an important way to begin to add global diversification to the underwriting portfolio, which can add efficiency through diversification to its underwriting capacity.
International underwriting business is expected to contribute up to 15% of Austral Re’s revenues in 2017, up from 9% in the prior year.
Growth has been found in agricultural reinsurance and it targets further growth here as well as in surety business, plus life and health.
“Our long-term plan estimates that the international operation will reach 50% of the portfolio in five years,” commented Bruno Freire, CEO of Austral Re.
The reinsurer is investing in technology to support further growth and product innovation, with a desire to make reinsurance protection more comprehensive for its customers and to generate greater client retention.
