Argentina changes reinsurance rules: reinsurance must be purchased through national or registered reinsurers

Argentina has changed its reinsurance rules, cautions the insurance broker Marsh.
“Argentine Superintendency (SSN) mandated last month that reinsurance in Argentina must be purchased through national or registered reinsurers,” Marsh Canada notes on its Web site. “This resolution follows the measures Argentina adopted in compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF-GAFI), a global anti-money laundering organization.”
Currently, only six national reinsurance companies are authorized to operate in the local reinsurance market. “In order to continue underwriting Argentine risks, the foreign reinsurers must comply with all the requirements of the new resolution by Sept. 1, 2011,” Marsh says.
“Reinsurers must obtain a specific waiver from the SSN to write a contract from the reinsurer’s home jurisdiction, when such a contract cannot be obtained in the local market,” Marsh Argentina says. “Even under such exceptional circumstances, foreign reinsurers must still register with the SSN after obtaining approval to write any specific risk.”
After Sept. 1, 2011, reinsurers not registered are prohibited from accepting reinsurance operations in the territory of Argentina.