Rio de Janeiro headquartered reinsurer IRB Brasil Resseguros SA (IRB Brasil Re) has decided to withdraw its profit guidance for 2020, due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The company said the move reflected the “current market conditions and the uncertainties of the magnitude of the impacts resulting from the coronavirus in Brazil and in the world.”
It added that its guidance depends on the general conditions of the economy, and re/insurance and financial markets, and regulatory conditions, none of which are currently clear.
IRB Brasil Re intends to re-disclose revised financial guidance as soon as its new executive officers are comfortable with the assumptions that underly its projections.
It was announced earlier this week that certain members of the reinsurer’s Board of Directors had resigned amid the impacts of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
The company explained that the resignations were “motivated by the serious impacts of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on the markets in general, which demand the dedication of such executives to their other positions and do not allow, in this exceptional moment, that they have the necessary availability to stay in the positions previously held at the Company.”
Andn early March, IRB Brasil Re also had its ratings placed under review with negative implications by AM Best after President José Carlos Cardoso and CFO Fernando Passos submitted their resignations.
The leaders stepped down after confirming that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway had not taken a stake in IRB Brasil Re, causing the company’s share prices to plummet.
