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| Tuesday, 14 September 2004 |
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Ceylinco Life ready to take over Life Division of Hayleys AIG One of Sri Lanka's most successful insurance companies said it was willing to take over the local life insurance operations of international insurance giant AIG, following concerns articulated by policyholders in a news report. Ceylinco Insurance Chairman Dr. Lalith Kotelawala told a news conference at the Ceylinco Seylan Towers yesterday that his company had written to the Insurance Board of Sri Lanka (IBSL) informing the regulatory body it was willing to take over the Life Division of Hayleys AIG Insurance in order to help policyholders and avoid erosion of public confidence in insurance. He said the company's offer was based on a recent news report titled "Closure of Hayleys AIG Life Division - Over 6,000 policyholders, 300 agents affected" and was subject to due diligence. The Daily News spotlighted this in its lead story on its Money page on September 6. "We are deeply concerned about the necessity to maintain confidence in insurance, in particular life insurance and to avoid harm to Sri Lankan nationals who have taken life insurance policies," Dr. Kotelawala said. He said "Ceylinco Insurance Company Limited and its predecessor Ceylon Insurance Company Limited established in 1939 had contributed heavily in taking the message of life insurance to the rural public and had strived to develop the local life insurance industry for the past 65 years. "We are now the leading insurer in this country. We are a 100% Sri Lankan company and have no foreign shareholders. We are therefore deeply committed with Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan policyholders," he said. "Our motivation in this instance is the need to maintain public confidence in insurance in a market where less than 10 per cent of the population owns life insurance." "The industry is still in the growth stage, and as a leading insurer, it is our duty to protect and develop the industry," Dr. Kotelawala said and added, "It is in these circumstances that we wrote to the IBSL." Ceylinco Life whose 90-strong branch network is the country's largest in the insurance sector, achieved a record Rs 3.042 billion in premium income in the last financial year. The company sold 89,000 new life policies at an average of over 7,500 policies a month in 2003. The company's Life Fund grew by a healthy 26 per cent to Rs 8.7 billion as at December 31, 2003. "In response to our letter and the mediation of the IBSL, we have now received a very positive response from Hayleys AIG, indicating their interest to discuss our proposal further. We will be contacting Hayleys AIG shortly to initiate discussions" Dr Kotelawala said. |
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