November 30th, 2009
“BLP obtains first combined insurer license for Assa”
The Costa Rican Insurance Superintendent (SUGESE) authorized Grupo Assa, a Panamanian insurance conglomerate, to set up an insurance company that will operate both in property and casualty (P&C) lines and life and health lines. The authorization, issued on Friday, 27 November 2009, is the first combined license granted in Costa Rica since the lifting of the state monopoly on insurance back in August of 2008, as a result of Costa Rica’s Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) commitments. The new insurance company will be named Assa Compañía de Seguros, S.A.
BLP’s Neftalí Garro, a partner of the firm who heads BLP’s insurance practice, commented that “Assa’s entrance into the Costa Rican market will further deepen the competition in this sector, which will prove to be dynamic despite the current international financial outlook. That a company of this level of experience in the Central American region has decided to invest over US$8 million as start-up capital in the Costa Rican insurance market shows that there is definitely promise in that market.”
BLP advised Assa in all stages of preparing, filing for and obtaining this license with a team formed by partner Neftalí Garro and associates Said Breedy, Rosalía Román and Marianna Fonseca.
The company now has up to six months to begin operations in Costa Rica.
