OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings reports in its latest 'Peru's Insurance Dashboard 1H15' that underwriting performance remains exposed to a highly competitive market, despite the strong improvement in profitability during 1H15. Fitch believes that the Peruvian insurance market continues to face ample room to grow and a gradual, albeit slow, de-concentration.

Despite the constrained economic environment in Peru, the insurance industry continued to show an isolated growing trend, reflecting the still low penetration of the insurance business in the country. Gross Written Premiums grew 16.2% in 1H2015, mainly boosted by the non-life segment, partially driven by tariff increase, and the industry continued to exhibit a diversified premium breakdown. Fitch expects that the profitability improvement will continue this year, mainly driven by large and small insurers' performance improvements; however, it is likely that underwriting margins will again be pressured in the next 12-18 months due to the intense tariff competition.
The new report, 'Peru's Insurance Dashboard 1H15' is available on Fitch's website at 'www.fitchratings.com'.