Ceylinco Life maintains market leadership in 2011

Ceylinco Life has recorded total income of Rs. 13.698 billion and Gross Written Premium Income of Rs. 9.816 billion for the year ending 31 December 2011, emphatically reinforcing its position as the country’s leading Life insurer for the eighth consecutive year.

The record premium income reported, which reflects a growth of 11.72% over 2010, gives Ceylinco Life a clear lead of Rs. 2 billion over the second largest Life insurer in the country, increasing the margin between the leader and the rest of the field. Within total income, investment and other income grew 12.39% to Rs. 3.882 billion, the company has reported. Ceylinco Life made a net transfer of Rs. 6.3 billion to its Life fund for the 12 months reviewed, an increase of Rs. 917 million or 16.9% over the previous year’s transfer. As a result, the Life fund grew by 19.9% to Rs. 38.2 billion as at 31 December 2011.

Ceylinco Life Managing Director R. Renganathan disclosed that this record-breaking performance in rather non-conducive conditions had enabled the company to transfer Rs. 700 million to shareholders from the profits made by the Life fund and maintain its solvency ratio at above eight times the statutory requirement.



“The figures tell the story,” Renganathan commented. “Ceylinco Life has always stuck to developing and marketing traditional life insurance products, because we believe that life insurance is firstly and ultimately about protecting policyholders and their loved ones against uncertainties of the future. It is not our business to seek short-term gains by investing our policyholders’ funds in volatile instruments.”

He said growth had come from sales of new policies at an average of nearly 12,000 per month throughout 2011, and from the careful management of investments in the review period.

Total investments of Ceylinco Life grew by Rs. 10.632 billion or 36% to Rs. 40 billion at the end of 2011.

Ceylinco Life’s investment portfolio comprised of Government securities (32%); licensed private banks (24%); State banks (21%); real estate (12%); corporate debt (6%) and others (5%) at the end of the year under review.

Total assets increased by Rs. 11.291 billion or 30.5% to Rs. 48.247 billion at 31 December 2011. The company’s revaluation surplus (a computation every three years of the difference between the book value and market value of assets) totalled Rs. 1,087 million.

In the area of payments to policyholders, Ceylinco Life paid Rs. 3 billion in claims, maturing benefits and other benefits in the year ended 31 December 2011. Over 95% of intimated death claims were settled during the year, maintaining the company’s record as the best in settlement of claims in Sri Lanka’s Life insurance sector.

Independently rated as one of the country’s most valuable brands, Ceylinco Life has maintained its leadership of the country’s long term insurance sector from 2004 onwards through an uncompromising adherence to fundamentals and best practice.

The company 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 has also been honoured as the ‘People’s Brand of the Year’ in the Insurance category for six years consecutively.