State owned Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC) has declared its biggest life insurance bonus of LKR7.7bn ($43.6m) for the year 2019 to its life insurance policyholders, chairman Mr K A Vimalenthirarajah, says in the company's annual report for 2018.
SLIC said the amount is also the largest life insurance bonus ever to be declared in the insurance industry of Sri Lanka. The annual report said, “SLIC has declared almost LKR50bn in total as life insurance bonuses since 2009. This is ample evidence of the company’s commitment to providing the highest returns while protecting its policyholders through wise investment management.”
The composite insurer's life insurance business grew by 5.59% to LKR13.217bn last year, compared to 2017. The retail channel contributed 90% to life business. The general Insurance business experienced a slight decline of 3% to LKR18.56bn in terms of GWP .
Profit from both lines of business after tax was LKR5.2bn in 2018 against LKR4.5bn in 2017. The value of the Life Fund increased by LKR6.8bn to reach LKR105.4bn, a growth of 7% over 2017. The general insurance technical fund saw a growth of 4%, an increase of LKR678m to reach LKR17.8bn.
Strategy
Mr Vimalenthirarajah said, “The strategy we drive now is to expand the market for younger people who seek to purchase insurance. Our strength has been our heritage and brand value that has thus far appealed to a large and long-standing customer base.
“Thus, we launched a rejuvenated look with a fresh new logo that still respects our heritage. Our online insurance portal meets the needs of younger customers for user-friendly products that they can interact with in real-time. Customers can now purchase and manage their insurance policies and pay their insurance premium payments through the portal.”
He added, “Our new strategies will see us identifying and tackling the parts of our business that are not performing optimally, taking corrective measures to boost their value addition to the Company. We will identify gaps that exist in the market that can be addressed with innovative new products and modify existing products to better suit the changing needs and lifestyles of our customers that we serve.”
He also said, “As we move forward, there are developments taking place in the market right now that we need to be mindful of. Changing lifestyles, emerging market patterns, the impact of globalisation, the Internet and communications technology – all of these will have deep and long-lasting effects on how we conduct business in the marketplace that will require us to re-engineer ourselves. New opportunities are emerging in areas such as trade, marine, and real estate (such as the increase in apartment buildings) where we can meet the demand for new relevant insurance products.
“Furthermore, we will explore a fresh approach to government and corporate institutional business. We hope to see changes to the regulatory environment that are more accommodating of the unique situation of our country and its people. A new tax regime and regulatory mechanisms together can help to ensure a level playing field in the industry.”