Ramón Carrasco: “The pandemic has not caused any liquidity or solvency problems for insurance companies”

The COVID-19 pandemic afflicting the world in 2020 has caused increased uncertainty in many areas of economic activity. This is seen in, for example, greater volatility in the financial markets; restrictions on basic rights such as the free movement of citizens, and the subsequent impact of this on economic activity; and the emergence of new risks, such as cybercrime, which are becoming more commonplace due to the rise of remote working.

But in the midst of this scenario, “insurance companies have not experienced liquidity or solvency problems as a result of COVID.” MAPFRE’s Group Chief Risk Officer, Ramón Carrasco, stated this on Tuesday during his contribution to IIF’s conference on the future of insurance.

“From the very beginning of the crisis, insurers identified liquidity as a potential risk. So, when regulators began to focus on liquidity, these companies had already done their work.” Subsequently, the focus turned to the need for businesses to strengthen their solvency position. “There have been no substantial declines in the solvency positions of insurance firms. The various groups have shown prudence in their management of cash and assets.”

For this reason, Carrasco, who participated in a panel on flexible contingency planning, explained the particular importance of not introducing regulatory measures that hinder the liquidity and capital flows of insurance groups.

MAPFRE’s Group Chief Risk Officer spoke about the way the company has managed risks to business continuity since the beginning of the crisis. “Based on the lessons we learned from managing the crisis in the countries first hit by the virus, and our experiences of the measures adopted, we were able to develop and adapt protocols that we quickly transferred to our companies in other regions. This helped us to prepare our teams and proactively address and manage the crisis as it emerged. We were therefore able to minimize the possible impact we could have suffered, in many cases by anticipating the measures that different governments developed locally. It is fair to say our operations in LATAM were well-prepared in advance thanks to the lessons learned in Europe.”