Between the mid-70s and the late 80s, the insurance market,
pension plan and capitalization stood stagnantly. High inflation,
inhibitory regulation of competition and national culture
unaccustomed to insurance were the main obstacles. Since
1990, the market has changed a lot. Governments have given
insurers greater freedom of pricing and other policy conditions,
several international companies started operating in Brazil, the
supply of products has diversified and increased competition
has brought benefits to consumers in the form of falling
premiums. With the reforms of the early years of the 90s, it
began a period of growth that was even more pronounced
after the success of monetary stabilization of 1994 ended with
hyperinflation. The leading indicators of the insurance market
more than doubled. The annual revenue from insurance
premiums and contributions to pension plans rose from $ 32
per capita in 1990 to $ 443 in 2013, and the ratio of that
revenue to GDP increased from 1.2% to 4.0% in the same
period (excluding health insurance).
The importance of the sector exceeds, by far, the numerical
expression. Indeed, daily life, as we know since the Industrial
Revolution, would be impossible without insurance. Companies
could not take risks as they do at present. Therefore, their
investments would be severely restricted and, with them, the
future expansion of the economies. Whole markets would
collapse: just imagine what would happen with car sales, with
the credit market and foreign trade if there were no insurance
support. The insurance industry, increasingly, supplements the
State in providing critical services in health and social security
and, in doing so, allows the state to focus attention and
resources on meeting the needs of the poorest sections of the
population.
