ServiPeru

This study traces the growth of micro credit in Peru after the economic crisis of 1980's and early 1990's revitalized by the new financial policy. The paper states that the microinsurance sector saw a downturn as the macro policies did not support the growth of microinsurance. It recounts the experiences of a microinsurer, SEGUROSCOOP, which was hurt by the legislation.

The key changes that SEGUROSCOOP went through to meet the new realities included:

• Creation of a subsidiary insurance brokerage: Serviperu;
• Transfer of the Insurance portfolio to a new company with profit sharing arrangement;
• Starting of health care and funeral services.

The study analyzes the strengths of the transformation process and presents the following findings:

• The decision to partner with new insurance company was well thought out;
• The new line of business were planned and owned by the management;
• The new products in health and funeral services were an incremental addition in the expertise and not totally new to the team;
• Introduction of services instead of payment made the project much more viable.

Further, the study presents the limitations observed in the transformation:

• Client segment with low income group makes it difficult to manage lapses of policy and creates problems in collection;
• The creation of medical center was a very resource consuming project;
• Geographical limitation as the service offerings can be provided in the company own centers only;
• Cooperative sector has not promoted the new products offerings.