Amãna Takaful and Paul A.J. May prepare businesses to think ahead

In line with the company’s ongoing initiative to educate and inform people on the importance insuring better, Amãna Takaful hosted leading internationally renowned Chartered Loss Adjuster Paul A.J. May in Sri Lanka recently.

Paul May, the Chairman/CEO of Concordia Consultancy – UK, a highly acclaimed insurance consultancy service in the UK, visited Sri Lanka to share his knowledge and expertise on his areas of specialisation which include loss adjusting, risk assessment and management, dispute resolution, performance compliance and insurance claims investigation.

Invariably, insurance sits at the bottom of the priorities list of many corporates and they at times do not have their best minds assessing whether the business is protected enough in the event of unfortunate incidents.

Decision making on risks and its management needs to be a board level concern. Insurance is an invisible earning to individuals and corporates alike as it can wipe out hard earned profits if proper care is not taken.

As the Sri Lankan market has stabilised over the years, Amãna Takaful creates a platform to educate people on the potential risks they face, ensuring that individuals and organisations have adequate knowledge required to avoid and recover faster from an uncertain loss.  

The composite insurer instils the importance for businesses and organisations, being aware of the significance of insuring themselves to protect their profits for the future while also ensuring that in the event of a loss the insurance policy will provide protection to the business and its employees and help the company generate profits and money faster by recovering faster.

Kester Amarasinghe, Senior Manager Technical of Amãna Takaful, stated: “It is our endeavour to continuously assist our clients to better understand the various dimensions in insurance to ensure an uninterrupted and sustained business in the event of a loss.

“There is also an economic value to this for the country as it will benefit more if the companies that are hindered by a loss, recover faster, functioning faster and more efficiently than they would if they were not covered. This is a small but important contribution from us towards that objective of our valued customers and for the insurance industries growth.”

As part of his visit to Sri Lanka, Paul May addressed several events which included a special technical session for corporate clients, architects, contractors and staff of Amãna Takaful, on the hazards and safety in factories/buildings and large properties with regard to fire insurance. Paul May also addressed select business leaders on the importance of risk management as most do not  consider this to be an investment in the sustainability and safety of a business but rather an expenditure.

Risk management should be incorporated into the way of life as it is not a defence mechanism if something did occur but rather a safety net which will ensure that assets are responsibly looked after, protecting future earnings of a business.

Amãna Takaful and Paul May urged businesses to look at their business models and assets, from its people, what it owns, what it earns and what it could earn in the future. It is always better to be prepared and know how much money and liquidity is needed from dealing with human value first, then move onto concentrating on getting the business back into performance.

Policyholders should be able to look at the bigger picture from the resources an insurer brings to the company, the financial stability it would receive in the event of a loss and the commitment it will have from its insurance company if a loss occurs.

A main objective for the company to host Paul May was to enlighten corporates and business on making strategic decisions on how to safeguard its people and profit in the long term while guiding Sri Lanka to progress further in practicing risk management standards.

Amãna Takaful is one of Sri Lanka’s fastest growing composite insurers having established its presence in 21 locations nation-wide. As per the unaudited accounts of 2012 released recently, the company has recorded an impressive growth of 22.4% in Gross Written Premium, well above the industry’s 10.6%. The company’s results reflect a substantial upside against industry performance for General and Life businesses.

Last year, Amãna Takaful took several strategic steps that helped propel the growth for 2012. This included the launch of an attractive range of Life (family) Takaful products that raised its competitiveness in the market. It also re-fashioned its motor product that accounts for a large portion of its portfolio. The motor policy, Takaful Total Drive, is now available in three options to suit the risk appetite of the discerning customer.