From left, Lok Jack and Moore
Andrew Green, Staff Reporter
GUARDIAN HOLDINGS (GH) is directing massive resources to expand its operations well past its original base in life insurance, said Arthur Lok Jack, chairman of GH local subsidiary, Guardian Life (GL).
Guardian Life has expanded its presence in the market to become Jamaica's biggest insurance company since its establishment five years ago, he said. But further expanding its market share will get tougher, he told the GL annual awards function at the Hilton Hotel on Friday.
"The last five years have seen tremendous growth," he told the gathering of Guardian Life staff. He said, "What we have also seen is a lot of other competitive companies have come into the market. The landscape is going to change."
INCREASED MARKET SHARE
Guardian Life started marketing insurance in the year 2000 and by 2001 had captured 40 per cent of the insurance market, said Earl Moore, president and chief executive officer of GL. The company has increased its market share since then.
But the Sagicor Group out of Barbados operates in some 20 countries across the region and has also moved aggressively in Jamaica, enfolding Life of Jamaica, Island Life and First Life. The chairman of GL, who is also a GH director, said the Canada-based AIC group, through the National Commer-cial Bank had also taken a stake in Life of Jamaica.
Guardian Life recorded $529.3 million in annualized premium income for 2002, said Mr. Moore. This, he said, was the largest amount sold in the history of Jamaica and the wider region. "In 2003 we increased that record performance by 14 per cent," the GL president said. Premium income revenue of $1.76 billion in 2003, represented increase of 24 per cent over 2002.
Given the significant changes within the insurance industry in Jamaica however, Mr. Lok Jack said the success Guardian had in increasing its market share over the last five years, "is a very big challenge to continue."
The trend is now towards providing integrated financial services, the GL chairman said. Guardian Holdings has already created a successful platform for providing such services in collaboration with RBTT Bank in the Netherlands Antilles.
"That is being seen as a model to copy," Mr. Lok Jack said. "Right now in Jamaica plans are afoot to do the same thing and I know that we have reached quite a way in launching some new products."
An alliance has been developed between RBTT Bank in Jamaica and GL, he said. "We are looking to see how things fare in Jamaica."
Despite the fact that GH and RBTT have their headquarters in Trinidad, the collaboration there is less advanced than in Jamaica or the Netherlands Antilles. Based on the outcome, he said, the Trinidadians aim to copy the methodology of the alliance between GL and RBTT in Jamaica.
EXPANSION
Guardian Holdings has also been expanding into general insurance. Incorporated in 1996 as the parent of a life insurance company with one subsidiary, GH has grown its general insurance business to the point where this revenue now equals that from life insurance.
Its local involvement in general insurance started in 2000, with the acquisition of West Indies Alliance, formerly Royal Insurance and Sun Alliance, with Peter John Thwaites, as managing director.
"We continued to invest in Jamaica," he said. The chairman referred to an article about GL taking a stake in the Dyoll Group which appeared in the Financial Gleaner, but then said, "I can't say very much about it."
Guardian Life has also acquired the Boscobel Beach Hotel. He said, "We continue in Guardian to reinvest the profits of this company in Jamaica."
The Guardian group itself is becoming a more international company, having acquired a general insurance subsidiary operating in the United Kingdom. It is currently moving into the Florida general insurance market. Mr. Lok Jack said, "We continue to grow and grow."
