economic – The Media Pub News (TM)

OLDWICK, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–In this episode of ^AMBestTV, Eli Sanchez, associate director, AM Best, said the rating agency’s negative market segment outlook on Chile’s insurance sector is based on declines in insurance activity, tied to the pandemic and longer-running economic issues. Click on http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=chileoutlook_english720 to view the entire program.

Sanchez addressed to what extent COVID-19 is affecting insurers in Chile.

“As of March 2020, there has been a 10% contraction in the overall insurance industry,” said Sanchez. “There was a contraction of around 1.8% last year. AM Best has seen declines, especially in the life side, related to annuities, some accident and health, as well as the property/casualty segment. Additionally, there has been lower economic activity. As of May, the monthly economic indicator contracted by approximately 15%. That puts a lot of pressure on underlying industries that use insurance as a way of protecting its relative assets.”

Chile is having economic problems that the pandemic has exacerbated. Sanchez spoke about how COVID-19 has affected insurers’ ability to grow.

“With lower global economic activity, there have been tensions, specifically commercial tensions between China and the United States. These countries are important partners for Chile. These tensions have created a lot of flight to quality, which have threaten the Chilean peso. In addition, with the tensions in trade, copper prices have come down. That limits a lot of the growth that could happen in the country, which in turn affects a lot that could happen in the demand for insurance.”

To view this video in Spanish, please go to http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=chileoutlook_spanish720.

To access the related market segment report, titled, “Market Segment Outlook: Chile Insurance,” please visit http://www3.ambest.com/bestweek/purchase.asp?record_code=532765.

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^AMBestTV covers exclusive AM Best and insurance industry information and reports, targeted topics and key developments in the insurance, reinsurance and related sectors daily. Sign up for alerts of episodes at www.ambest.com/multimedia/ambtvsignup.html. View ^AMBestTV episodes at www.ambest.tv.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in New York, London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

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Lee McDonald
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+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5561
lee.mcdonald@ambest.com

Prof. Michelle Dryden is an experienced newspaper journalist who has a master’s degree in New Media Journalism from Full Sail University, and a bachelor’s degree in traditional journalism from Rider University.

EWING, N.J. – On the brink of Tuesday’s decision where the Federal Reserve would consider mortgage forgiveness to homeowners, there have been changes in local consumer spending and a rise in home prices.

Weidel Realtors of Ewing, believe that they will see a healing in the industry.

“Buyers are very savvy today,” said Robin Stewart, broker and director of sales. “Banks are more apt to giving mortgages,” she said.

However, Stewart cautioned that in about six months to a year from now, there might be more foreclosures. She said, “We think there will be an influx of foreclosures. We’ve only seen the brunt of it.”

The Federal Reserve is still waiting on more information to see if they should take further action to boost the economy, said Financial Times writers, Shannon Bond in New York, and Robin Harding in Washington. Even though mortgages are only a small portion of the economy, economists still consider home sales during economic slow downs.

Since home sales usually soar during the spring and summer months of March through June, this is just a seasonal outlook.

“We did see a big surge where sales doubled earlier this year as opposed to the same time last year,” said Stewart.

According to Jim O’Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, the research group, “the monthly improvement may be due to homes in foreclosure and short sales accounting for a smaller proportion of total home sales.”

Stewart agreed. She explained that some banks required that homeowners pay back their short sales. She said that some banks, however, were claiming these as losses and offering 1099 forms to homeowners who will then pay taxes on these short sales.

Their article concludes that retail sales fell in June for a third month. According to the writers, this suggests that the “sentiment has been darkening.”

O’Sullivan advises that, “‘the confidence data continue to show weakness…”’

Stewart said, “People are not really trying to spend their money on retail because they don’t know what’s going to happen in this economy.”

Therefore, the economy is showing signs of weakness, but with the rise in housing prices there is the notion of confidence and recovery. Since the housing market numbers seem to be seasonal, economists are not convinced as yet.