Direct written premiums in Dominican Republic
Highest year-on-year market share growth ranking
The insurance market in the Dominican Republic has shown a strong growth in the last year, reaching a total volume of direct premiums of 44,895.8 million Dominican pesos as of May 2023. This represents an annual increase of 14.6% compared to May 2022, when the volume was 39,173.2 million Dominican pesos. The growth was driven by the recovery of the economic activity after the COVID-19 pandemic and the expansion of the insurance coverage to new segments and regions.
The market is dominated by five insurers that account for 71.9% of the total direct premiums. The leader is Seguros Universal, with a market share of 22.8%, followed by Humano Seguros, with 15.5%, Seguros Reservas, with 14.7%, Mapfre BHD Cía de Seguros, with 10.7%, and La Colonial de Seguros, with 8.2%. The remaining 28.1% is distributed among 28 other insurers, indicating a high level of concentration in the market.
The most important business lines in terms of volume are fire insurance, which represents 25.6% of the total direct premiums, health insurance, with 24.6%, vehicle insurance, with 22.2% and life collective insurance, with 15.2%. The other lines, including personal accidents, surety, agricultural, marine and air, cargo transport, individual life, and others, account for only 12.4% of the total.
The performance of each business line has varied significantly in the last 12 months, reflecting the different impacts of the pandemic and the post-pandemic recovery on each segment. The most dynamic lines were individual life insurance, which grew by 67.6% year-on-year, followed by fidelity and surety bonds, which increased by 32.9%. Other lines that showed above-average growth were other non-life insurances (24%), health insurance (16.3%), and life collective insurance (16.1%). The rest of the lines grew at a slower pace or even declined, such as cargo transport insurance, which dropped by 4.4%.
The outlook for the insurance market in the Dominican Republic is positive. Based on different IA models scenarios, Rankingslatam estimates that the volume of direct premiums will reach between 1,906 million USD and 2,421 million USD by 2025, depending on the macroeconomic conditions and the exchange rate fluctuations between the Dominican peso and the US dollar. The most probable scenario is that the volume will be around 2,200 million USD, implying an average annual growth rate of about 12%.
The main challenges and opportunities for the insurers operating in the Dominican Republic are related to the regulatory framework, the innovation and digitalization of their products and services, the diversification and penetration of their distribution channels, and the development of new segments and niches that are currently underserved or untapped by the existing offer.