So, this is how ICMIF changed my life — and, I believe, the lives of many others across Latin America and the Caribbean. As a young broker working with Cooperativa de Seguros Múltiples in Puerto Rico, the then CEO, Edwin Quiñones, invited me to help fledgling cooperative insurance companies in Latin America and the Caribbean better understand their reinsurance needs. We did this working alongside ICMIF, which at the time also acted as a reinsurance broker and trusted adviser to the region.
Whilst ICMIF had already been working tirelessly to bring products and knowledge to these companies, many of them were still in their early stages of development. As start-ups fundamentally, they often experienced high turnover at board and senior management level, largely due to limited experience and governance maturity.
Coming from the private sector, my association with ICMIF truly opened my eyes to a world I had not previously experienced. Here was a global federation united by a clear purpose: to help a segment of the population that had historically been underserved or ignored. It is important to remember that in many Latin American countries, commercial banks did not begin to seriously engage lower-income clients until the late 1990s and early 2000s. At the same time, through ICMIF’s support and peer learning, we were working to ensure that cooperative insurers were managed as sustainable, profitable businesses, creating long-term futures for their members, policyholders, and communities.
ICMIF spearheaded the expansion of cooperative insurance across the region, working alongside more established cooperative and mutual insurers such as Cooperativa de Seguros Múltiples (Puerto Rico); American Ag (USA); La Segunda (Argentina); R+V (Germany); Shelter (USA); CIS Insurance (UK); and Co-operators (Canada), to name just a few. What struck me most was that this global community of mutuals and cooperatives was made up of like-minded individuals, united by a genuine desire to help societies by openly sharing knowledge, experience, and practical solutions.
One of the best examples of this peer-to-peer spirit was the creation of the Latin American Reinsurance Group (LARG), where companies from different countries in the region – each facing distinct market, regulatory, and capital challenges – came together for the benefit of their respective communities. They shared a common understanding of what it truly means to belong to the cooperative and mutual movement.
Much of the success of these companies can be attributed to ICMIF’s guidance, which provided not only technical expertise from its own team, but also the ability to mobilise support, resources, and, in some cases, capital from across its global membership.
I firmly believe there is enormous potential for growth as societies gain greater access to education, and as credit unions and cooperatives become more sophisticated, better recognised by governments, and more fully supported by financial markets.
Puerto Rico and Argentina offer powerful examples of what is possible. In both cases, credit unions, and therefore cooperative and mutual insurers, form a significant part of daily life, unquestionably improving the lives of the members and policyholders they serve.
It is difficult to pinpoint exactly why the development of the cooperative sector differs so widely from country to country, but I see tremendous opportunity for expansion across the entire region. The most natural partners in meeting capital needs at the grassroots level are credit unions, which will grow hand in hand with their insurance companies. To achieve this potential, there is no organisation better placed than ICMIF and its global membership – a network with a proven track record of collaboration, shared learning, and long-term commitment to mutual and cooperative values.
