People’s Insurance services available at the click of a button
Buying insurance will be made available for the people at the click of a button by People’s Insurance Plc through its latest digital innovation strategy, a top official of the People’s Bank’s flagship subsidiary said.
Chief Executive Officer of People’s Insurance PLC Deepal Abeysekera told the Business Times that they are forging ahead with its new strategy aimed at designing and deploying more convenient ways for customers to access information and purchase insurance online.
The scaling up of investment in technology and research will be the priority currently to stay ahead of peers in terms of product innovation, process efficiency, cost cutting and service delivery, he said.
However despite higher costs, the insurance firm’s bottom line improved year -on-year and profit after tax grew by 17 per cent to reach Rs.773 million in 2017, from Rs.658 million in 2016, he claimed.
The key initiative was the enhancement of the corporate website, enabling multi-device compatibility to deliver a fully integrated customer experience; he said adding that investments were made to design E-insurance products.
These innovative products will help the People’s Insurance to secure first –mover advantage in servicing the insurance needs of a number of emerging sectors in the economy, he disclosed.
He emphasised that the company’s prospects for the future remain strong, given the base of more than 16 million People’s Bank customers and another over a million with People’s Leasing and Finance PLC.
People’s Insurance will focus on non-motor insurance as 60 per cent of the product portfolio of the industry consists of motor insurance policies, he revealed.
At present, the company is expanding the household and small and medium enterprise segments including fire policies while catering to the needs of the business and customer requirements especially relating to lifestyle- and business-related products, he pointed out.
He opined that it will be focusing on some non-traditional products such as healthcare and travel insurance.
Sri Lanka’s insurance industry is yet to gain its full potential. Overall insurance penetration level was around 1.1 per cent of GDP, which is well below the global average of 6.2 per cent.
Current market growth is at around 15 per cent, he said predicting that it would grow at 8-10 per cent.
People’s Insurance has grown rapidly over the years, and at present it is exploring ways to expand its reach, he said.