Sri Lanka’s exemplar of success built on trust

Phenomenal success can lead to iconic status for only a handful of exemplary corporate entities. In Sri Lanka’s life insurance sector, that status is enjoyed by Ceylinco Life – a name synonymous with financial strength, stability, professionalism, market leadership and good citizenship.

The two principal architects of Ceylinco Life’s success, Chairman Rajkumar Renganathan, and Managing Director and CEO Thushara Ranasinghe, analyse the pivotal elements of this corporate success story.

Q: What does success in the life insurance sector entail?

Rajkumar Renganathan (RR): Success in life insurance can be equated with trust. Life insurance is a product that’s far more intangible than a straightforward investment in an interest earning bank deposit, where the dynamic between the management of risk and return is clear.

Life insurance is usually a long-term contract where the objective is not merely the return on investment (ROI) but the protection that the product offers in the event of the death or disablement of the policyholder.

The customer must trust the life insurance company to manage its affairs well, and stay financially strong for at least the duration of his or her policy and to fulfil its promises. Therefore, the most pivotal element of success in life insurance is trust.

Q: And what key performance indicators define success in the sector?

Thushara Ranasinghe (TR): In life insurance, the key performance metric that determines success is premium income. The company with the highest gross written premium income for a particular year is the largest life insurer in the market. Ceylinco Life has achieved that for more than two decades.

However, we believe that in determining a successful life insurance business, there are other factors that must also be considered. These are capital adequacy, profitability, life fund and re-insurance arrangements, claim settlement, equal opportunity employment and good citizenship. In all of these aspects too, Ceylinco Life is a benchmark in Sri Lanka.

Q: In your view, what has distinguished Ceylinco Life’s rise to the top of the life insurance sector?

RR: Looking back on Ceylinco Life’s success, I am reminded of the words of philosopher Seneca, who said that “fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.” Every organisation faces challenges and Ceylinco Life too faced challenges that were not remotely related to its operations.

The company not only weathered those challenges but built on its market leadership, and the trust and confidence of customers. It continued to grow in size and stature, winning global and local accolades, breaking new ground in innovation and digitalisation, and focussing on sustainability while retaining its close engagement with customers as well as larger communities via enduring good citizenship initiatives.

We did not simply grow despite the challenges; we also grew because of them, converting every challenge into an opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to our core values – and this is how I view our journey to the top.

Q: What has Ceylinco Life done differently to boast being the most successful life insurance company in the market?

TR: We have always focussed on developing products that respond to market needs and conditions; strict adherence to the fundamentals of the business; building a dedicated and professionally trained sales force; longstanding engagements with policyholders and the community; and a commitment to ethics, discipline, core values and consistency.

 At Ceylinco Life, we believe that we are not the best because we are the biggest but that we are the biggest because we are the best

Q: How did the company’s early years contribute to building its strength and spirit?

RR: Since its inception, Ceylinco Life has focussed on investing in training sales personnel to enhance their professionalism, investments in technology, establishing a culture of its own, rewarding performance, and achieving gender balance and gender equity in a sector that was highly male dominated.

This ensured a motivated, qualified and happy workforce. We also made it a principle that our success must be shared with all our stakeholders.

In terms of products, we stayed true to the fundamentals of life insurance – that our primary role is to offer protection that de-risks the goals and ambitions of our policyholders, instead of looking for short-term gains.

Q: Sustainability is one of the biggest concerns for any business in today’s context. What is Ceylinco Life’s app-roach to this?

TR: Ceylinco Life has established a comprehensive environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework that influences everything we do, ensuring that ESG aspects are always considered and prioritised.

In terms of the environmental pillar, we have established a goal of reducing our carbon footprint by five percent on an annual basis.

And in terms of the social pillar, our ultimate objective is to eliminate poverty that can occur in any home due to the loss of a breadwinner by ensuring the continuance of lifestyles and living standards.

Our focus on governance has resulted in experienced and reputed CEOs, engineers, chartered accountants, eminent lawyers and architects being appointed as independent, non-executive directors of the company, and they chair key board committees.

Q: Looking to the future, how does Ceylinco Life envision its growth and evolution, particularly in the context of its leadership in the sector?

RR: The company has put into place a succession plan to ensure continuity. The chosen successors will be people who are professionals with proven leadership qualities, and capable of responding to a rapidly changing environment and customer needs.

The world we operate in has gone from VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) to RUPT (rapid, uncertain, polarised and tangled) – and companies have to be extremely agile to keep moving forward in these mercurial times.

Ceylinco Life has ensured ample bench strength with leaders who can bring new thinking and new initiatives, and implement more agile systems to meet future challenges.

Q: How will all this benefit the company’s policyholders?

TR: The continuing strength and stability of the company would mean that Ceylinco Life would not only be able to fulfil all its obligations towards its customers and serve their best interests, but go further in terms of innovation, convenience and impact.

At Ceylinco Life, we believe that we are not the best because we are the biggest but that we are the biggest because we are the best.

– Compiled by Tamara Rebeira

Telephone: 2461461 | Email: care@ceylife.lk | Website: www.ceylincolife.com