Amana Takaful profits up eight fold, mainly in General insurance
View(s):Sri Lanka’s Amana Takaful insurance recorded a Profit After Tax (PAT) increase in 2013, to Rs. 117 million, which was eight times that of its 2012 PAT, as per a statement by the company, which attributed this increase in profits “largely” to its General nsurance arm.Further, the company also showed a consolidated Gross Written Premium (GWP) of Rs. 1.9 billion in 2013, an increase of 19.7 per cent over 2012, wherein Rs. 1.32 billion was for the Life Insurance segment and Rs. 543 million was for General Insurance.
According to the insurer’s Chief Executive Fazal Ghaffoor; “While the Life segment contributed to our overall growth in volume, the modest increase in the General segment contributed largely to profits. This was possible mainly due to our ability to hold price, in addition to productivity gains and efficiency improvements, despite pressure on margins”. Elaborating, the company noted that the “Life business growth was balanced with new subscriptions between the regular portfolio and Prosper, our wealth management product, growing collectively by almost 50 per cent over 2012. The motor and non-motor classes improved by 9.8 per cent and 13.3 per cent, respectively. Motor class achieved product-line profitability for the first time in a full year while all other classes continued their profit momentum”.
Adding to this, Mr. Ghaffoor stated that the “net claims experience was Rs. 595 million, which is 2.9 per cent over 2012. Industry-wide, Amana Takaful has a record of a relatively low claims ratio, attributable to astute claims management due to prudent underwriting and risk assessment. This is reflected in our claims ratio of 54.2 per cent for the segment, which is the lowest amongst the insurance players who are listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange.
The combined ratio of the segment is 97 per cent and as a consequence the risk fund is in surplus for the second successive year, enabling the company to distribute a surplus to non-claimant participants this year too. The overall operational efficiency of the company is reflected in the underwriting margin of 28 per cent, the highest amongst the listed insurers. The total underwriting result for the year is Rs. 531 million, 24 per cent higher than 2012″.
The company further revealed that it had “distributed a surplus of 12.5 per cent to all non-claimant participants in 2012″.
Meanwhile, it also emerged that the insurer faced what it called a challenge by extraneous circumstances, in early 2013, with the company commenting; “Industry’s double digit growth in the post conflict years, was restricted to 9.8 per cent in 2013, principally by the lower performance of the motor class which accounts for two-thirds and more of the market.
Motor class growth halved from 16.5 per cent in 2012 to 8.2 per cent in 2013 due to lower registrations exacerbated by heightened price-cutting which took a toll on value performance”.
(JH)