As several Latin American countries’, development efforts have continued to move forward at a quickening pace their increasing prosperous position has significantly impacted U.S. business.
Over the last 25 years we have seen the transition of southern Florida, especially Miami, from a domestic regional hub to one of the larger international financial hubs in the Western hemisphere.
“Miami is the financial capital of Latin America in many ways,” said Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, an associate professor in the UCLA Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies. “The boom in Latin America has created huge growth in the southern Florida economy in general.”
According to Hinojosa-Ojeda, many insurance companies, banks, and debit/credit processing operations are all operating out of Miami in order to service Latin America. Generally speaking, Latin America is also a huge trading partner for the United States.
“If you look at the top 20 percent of the income scale, they’re a very lucrative target population, particularly for U.S. financial products like insurance, real estate and other types of credit and savings products,” said Hinojosa-Ojeda. “In a lot of ways, that amplifies even more the economic boom in Latin American demand for U.S. services.”
The insurance business is one that has been specifically affected by Latin American growth.
“Most of the insurance companies and intermediaries that moved to Miami did so after 2004, which was about the time
AIG, a market leader, decided to relocate 60 people from New York down to their Latin American Division to Miami,” said Bobby Vernon, founder and CEO of Dual Specialty Underwriters.
“Since then, over two dozen companies have moved to Miami, creating a relatively robust insurance market all focused on the Latin American and Caribbean territories.”
He continued, “In 2000, Latin America was mostly a property insurance market with very few focused on specialty insurance. Distribution was highly inefficient and there wasn't much of a wholesale intermediary channel or professionals who knew much about specialty lines of insurance.”
You may also like:
"
Insurance powerhouses set to flee Scotland"
"
Kaufman group expands in London"
"
Crawford & Company acquires UK adjusters to expand market"
