Ceylinco Life builds its own distinctive branch in Jaffna

Ten years after it opened its first branch in Jaffna, Ceylinco Life has reiterated its commitment to the residents of the city by building a custom-designed new office on company-owned land at 37-41, Kannathiddy Road, Jaffna.

The 30th Ceylinco Life branch to be located in a company-owned building, the new branch will be home to 32 sales consultants and eight sales supervisors working under the Head of Branch.

Providing 3,500 square feet of purpose-designed space on two floors, the Ceylinco Life Jaffna branch offers spacious fully air-conditioned customer service areas and office space on the ground floor, a well-equipped training room on the first floor and plentiful customer parking facilities. It has its own 40 kVA stand-by generator.

The new building stands on 48.7 perches of land, leaving room for future expansion, the company said.

Speaking at the ceremonial opening of the new branch, Ceylinco Life Managing Director and CEO R. Renganathan recalled that when the company opened its original Jaffna branch in May 2002, it was staffed with just one sales supervisor and 10 sales consultants.

Over the following ten years, Ceylinco Life set up seven more branches in the district -- two in Nelliady, two in Atchuvely and one each at Chunnakam, Chavakachcheri, and Manipay, and today serves its populace with eight branch heads, 42 agency supervisors and 201 sales consultants, Renganathan added.

“All of them are well-trained and earn above average incomes. Many of them have their own modes of transport and have built their own homes. We as a company are happy that we have been able to make this contribution,” he said. “It is also our intention to further expand in the Jaffna district.”

Mr. Renganathan also outlined some of the community projects carried out by Ceylinco Life in Jaffna, including the construction of classrooms for three schools at Eralai, Jaffna and Velanai, the donation of a tube well to a school for special children in Kaithady and a road safety education programme for 27 schools. On the day of the opening of the new Jaffna branch, the company donated medical equipment to six hospitals in Jaffna, Atchuvely, Annaikottai, Tellipalai, Chavakachcheri and Point Pedro.

The market leader in Sri Lanka’s life insurance sector for the past eight years, Ceylinco Life operates more than 180 branches, the largest branch network among local life insurance companies, and has won multiple international and local awards for its commitment to the community and success in brand equity building.

The company ended 2011 with a record gross written premium income of Rs. 9.816 billion and total income of Rs. 13.698 billion, while its life fund grew by 19.9 per cent to Rs. 38.2 billion as at 31 December 2011. Ceylinco Life solvency margin, which illustrates its financial strength and ability to honour all claims, stood at eight times the minimum statutory requirement at the end of the 2011 financial year.