“People are open to learn more about our products. Let’s bring protection to families’ financial income together”, says Edson Franco, president of Fenaprevi and Zurich Seguros

Per
Denise Bueno

The life and pension segment has two major challenges ahead: dealing with the macroeconomic variables that take away the population’s purchasing power and better communicating with society, including the 3 Powers, companies, families and individuals. “As long as we have income inequality as we have in Brazil, it will be difficult to reach levels of penetration of life insurance as we see in other countries. But even in this world scenario of high interest rates and inflation, unemployment, production chains on alert with geopolitical problems, it is possible to double the size of the segment of people in Brazil, regardless of income”, said Edson Franco, president of Zurich insurance company in Brazil and of Fenaprevi (National Federation of Pensions and Life), in an event promoted by CVG-SP (Clube de Vida de São Paulo).

Insurance accounts for 4% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), below the world average of 7%. Specifically in people, Brazil’s share is 2.1%, according to the most recent study by the Swiss Re Foundation, with data from 2021. In life insurance, the percentage drops to 0.5%. “This shows that we have great potential, regardless of income, to advance in the sale of life insurance. Our main challenge is to capitalize on distribution and invest in communication to increase society’s knowledge of products, which already provide services and coverage to be used in life and meet the various consumer life cycles”.

In large numbers, the people segment increased from BRL 34.5 billion in 2017 to BRL 51.2 billion in 2021, an average growth of 10% per year, with VGBL, Group Life and Individual Life being the main products . One of the highlights in personal insurance is the amount that the segment returned to society as a result of Covid-19: R$ 7 billion indemnities paid to more than 183 thousand families. “These are relevant numbers, which show the importance of the sector in providing financial support for families, as well as for the government”, said the executive.

The pandemic, on the other hand, contributed to opening the dialogue about death. “Before we had a hidden enemy, which was the taboo on talking about death. Nobody wanted to talk about it, as necessary as it may seem to those of us working in the industry. Unfortunately, every night from March 2020 onwards, everyone stopped to listen to the Minister of Health talk about the deaths on TV. This changed people’s view of the need to protect family income. Which brings us an immense challenge to contribute to offering products that meet this desire of society”, adds Franco.

With people more open to having information on life insurance, the sector began to register an increase in the number of brokers interested in specializing in the segment. “Our mission is, together, to bring quality financial advice to people. Many have car insurance, but not life. However, they are interested in knowing more about the product, revealed the Fenaprevi survey, commissioned from Dataprevi”, says Franco.

The survey was carried out between November 18 and December 1, 2021, and heard 2023 people across the country (aged 18 and over), with emphasis on the C class, which has 48% of representatives. About what they did or are doing to protect themselves and their family from adverse situations, 23% said they had started saving some money; another 17% said they had taken out insurance, 6% of which were life insurance, and 11% had not taken any action to protect themselves from the disease. “We have to show society that personal insurance goes far beyond life insurance. We have insurance for serious illnesses, hospitalization, to pay off debts, among so many other services with telemedicine and benefits that stimulate the quality of life”, he quotes.

Regarding communication with society and with the federal, state and municipal governments, Franco commented on the hiring of Dyogo Oliveira to be president of CNseg, National Confederation of Insurance Companies, for the triennium 2022-2025. “The great mission of the former minister and now executive president of the confederation is to open dialogues with the executive, legislative and judiciary powers, in order to increase understanding and understanding of the size of the market. We are the main financer of public debt, with R$1.2 trillion in reserves invested in government bonds. We have a lot to contribute to Brazil in offering products that aim to protect people’s income. And we are only at the beginning, as we show in the document with the CNseg proposals for the candidates for the presidency of the Republic in this year’s elections”, he stressed.

Of course, the sector depends on the good performance of the economy

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