International private medical insurers (IPMI) and providers are facing increasing complexities and difficulties dealing with vast ranges of currencies from customers as they grow their businesses globally.
Manny Lopez, vice president of sales and partnership at Flywire, noted that national and international factors could cause significant disruptions for providers and add notable risk to their operations.
Speaking at the Health & Protection IPMI breakfast briefing in association with Flywire, Lopez explained some of the key challenges that insurers were facing when collecting premiums from their global clients in new markets.
“With international expansion comes a lot of opportunity, but also a lot of complexity, which brings us to the challenges that we’re seeing in the industry,” Lopez said.
He continued: “With complexity, it’s the result of growth, and in this case it’s really about dealing with multiple currencies, multiple payment methods and having to manage premiums across different currencies.”
Issues such as foreign exchange rate fluctuations, back-office reconciliation and banking relationships could add greater complexity and risk into insurer operations.
Furthermore, the potential for more fragmented oversight and reporting methods for insurers was cited.
Lopez acknowledged that unstable or fluctuating currencies could be a particular problem for insurers, especially if they are dealing with cash.
For example, he noted the Egyptian pound was difficult “because there’s no liquidity there, just like Trinidad or Bolivia”.
Likewise in other parts of Africa, Lopez agreed with attendees that dollars could be quite hard to come by with anecdotal evidence suggesting much of their availability was potentially prioritised for some overseas investment sectors.