Fintelekt and LIMRA organise Insurance Summit in Colombo

The first Fintelekt-LIMRA Summit on Insurance Marketing and Distribution was held at the Taj Samudra, Colombo on 1 March. The event was attended by over 100 key managers from life insurance companies in Sri Lanka, including distribution and sales heads, zonal and regional managers.

IASL President Dirk Pereira addressing the gathering

The eminent speakers included industry stalwarts such as Insurance Association of Sri Lanka (IASL) President Dirk Pereira, National Insurance Trust Fund (NITF) Chairman Manjula De Silva, Union Assurance General Manager – Marketing and Distribution Rukman Weeraratne, Union Bank of Colombo CEO Indrajit Wikramasinghe, SBI Life Insurance India Executive Director – Marketing Anand Pejawar, Asian Alliance COO – Life Chula Hettiarachchi, and AIA Lanka CEO Shah Rouf.

According to Fintelekt CEO Shirish Pathak: “The insurance industry in Sri Lanka is poised for substantial growth and is now looking at ways to increase focus on meeting customer expectations and enhance distribution effectiveness, both of which are critical to industry growth. The objective of the Fintelekt-LIMRA Summit on Marketing and Distribution was to share local, regional and global best practices in areas such as improving agency productivity, moving towards a multi-channel distribution mix, and improving outreach to the under-insured and un-insured population.”

Panellists for the session on Enhancing Channel Productivity and Efficiency and Evolving a Multi-Channel Strategy, from left: Fintelekt CEO Shirish Pathak, SBI Life Insurance Executive Director – Marketing Anand Pejawar, Asian Alliance Insurance Chief Operating Officer – Life Chula Hettiarachchi, Union Assurance General Manager – Marketing and Life Distribution Rukman Weeraratne, AIA Insurance Lanka Chief Executive Officer Shah Rouf, Union Bank of Colombo CEO Indrajit Wikramasinghe, and LIMRA and LOMA Senior Vice President and Managing Director – International Operations Ian Watts

LIMRA and LOMA Senior Vice President and Managing Director – International Operations Ian Watts highlighted that technology is enabling more effective and productive distribution across the globe. He stressed that regulation will keep evolving in the interests of the consumer, and companies will have to be prepared to deal with disruptions that arise out of regulatory change. 

The major takeaway from the interactions during the event was that customer expectations are evolving rapidly – driven largely by technology. To meet these expectations, companies will have to think differently. This translates into a need to consider innovative strategies, products and service delivery mechanisms. Whether it is in the field of micro-insurance, reaching rural populations, or better hiring and retention practices, innovative approaches will be required to reach the potential for growth in the industry. 

For more information about the summit, please visit Fintelekt-LIMRA Colombo Summit 2016 or write to Fintelekt Research Director Arpita Bedekar at [email protected].