Munich Re sets up in Brazil

Reinsurer Munich Re has established a subsidiary office in Sao Paolo. The new office follows the opening up of the Brazilian reinsurance market to foreign reinsurers, and the company hopes to use its increased geographic proximity to insurers as a means to tap into the market's potential.

"Now we can offer reinsurance protection to primary insurers in Brazil in all lines of business and provide them with the Munich Re group's entire range of services. This creates promising new business opportunities for us,” comments Georg Daschner, a member of the company's board of management, whose responsibilities include Latin America coverage.

Munich Re is not a newcomer to the Brazilian market, and has had a representative office in Sao Paulo for the last decade. However, a subsidiary will bring additional benefits.

“A local subsidiary will enable us to give the market the best support possible and make our capacity extensively available to clients from the outset. And we will succeed in participating appropriately in the expected expansion of the market," Daschner comments.

The Brazilian insurance market is the largest market in Latin America and generates premium income from primary insurance of approximately US$27bn. Reinsurance premium incomes stands at around US$1.4bn as of 2006.