President (Guardian General Insurance Jamaica Limited)

Mrs. Bhoorasingh, the first things that an investor looks for prior to investing in a foreign country are a trustworthy insurance company, lawyer and bank. What does the Jamaican financial system specifically offer to assure investors that they are coming in to a country with a solid financial system?

We made mistakes and had a meltdown in the 1990s. We have, however, learnt a lot from that and now have an extremely robust regulatory environment. As somebody functioning within that regulatory framework, our research tells us that it is probably more conservative than many places in the world and certainly in the Caribbean. The regulators basically took the Canadian model, which I think has stood the test of time certainly during the crisis in 2008. My colleagues who are trying to expand outside of the region will tell you that when you go to other territories with a Financial Services Commission (FSC) stamp of approval that’s a gateway into the rest of the region because they know the framework of the FSC and how robust it is. It’s extremely robust and some may say a bit too robust.

Yesterday President Barack Obama became the first US President to visit Jamaica in 33 years. How do you think his short yet historic visit will benefit the island?

I think the short-term win will be that euphoria that his visit brings. I thought he connected extremely well with the students at the university yesterday. I think his visit also brings a seal of approval in terms of the economic path that we’re on because a lot of Jamaicans do believe that what the US President’s approval bears more weight than say the British Prime Minister’s approval. I believe this visit also opens a door to our future of LNG.

Guardian General Insurance Jamaica Limited merged with West Indies Alliance and Globe Insurance to create one of the Caribbean's largest insurance providers. What were the difficulties involved with this merger and how did the Group deal with them?

The Group is divided into five pillars: life, health, pension, wealth management and the P&C division. The P&C in Trinidad really drove this acquisition and was very involved in the negotiations. Once it was done on Nov 16 2012, they stepped back and weren’t as involved as they were during the acquisition process.

I believe the most important factor in ensuring a seamless acquisition was to be very honest in order to gain people’s trust. So during that first staff meeting we said there would be redundancies and although we didn’t know how many or when, we said that we would let them know. Secondly we brought in a human resource consultant to help with the process and the day-to-day activities. The third most important thing was that although this was West Indies Alliance acquiring Globe Insurance, we made it clear that at the end of the day nobody would have first preference over another. We were going to look at the team and decide the best fit of the team, and remain true to that process. We interviewed everyone and encouraged them to be honest with us about what they wanted out of this merger.

Guardian Group has established a reputation as one of the leading financial institutions in the Caribbean. The difficulty, however, is not being on top but maintaining the status. What is the Group doing to preserve its top status?

Understanding our market, anticipating our market’s needs and being able to fulfill those. We are also differentiating ourselves, remaining true to our core values and ensuring appropriate distribution channels. Lastly, ensuring that our staff members are happy. If they happy they will communicate that very well because I think there’s quite a difference from operating in a small market and operating in a huge market. When you operate in a huge market, people will communicate that to your consumers. If they are not happy they will badmouth you as an organization and you’re immediately in trouble.

The insurance industry is fiercely competitive. What makes Guardian General Insurance such a successful company? What are the company’s competitive advantages compared to other major players in the sector?

Firstly we have a business model that no one else in the market really has. Secondly, we have a clearly defined target market. We are not in the personal lines business, rather we have a large commercial portfolio so Harvard Business Review’s readers really are our target market. These allow us to have the infrastructure, specifically the insurance capacity, operating system, technical competence and the people, in place to service that target market. We don’t place the large industrial entities like the bauxite companies or JPS, rather we place large commercial accounts. Also, being able to have the regional spread is a plus especially if Caricom ever gets itself together. That’s one of the main reasons we introduced the name Guardian during the merger so you would recognize us across the region and the 21 territories in which we operate.

With the logistics hub initiative, the north-south highway and the new SEZs, Jamaica is bound to welcome a rising number of business travellers. Given this could only benefit the Group, are you working with JAMPRO to promote Jamaica in any way?

No, because we don’t work with the direct customers at all rather we work through brokers. On the P&C side we have formed linkages with global producers so we are the representative, for example, for AIG in Trinidad and we have other global network partners. Some of these insure the big companies and they will then say to their local producer here that we need that business to be placed with Guardian. It is very difficult within our region to be able to have that global spread so it really requires you being in partnership with persons who already have that global network.

Would the foreign companies in Jamaica come insured or they would get insurance here?

A lot of them are part of a global program. They may, however, require some local cover so they would require us to issue some documentation for their partner here. We would also assist if there is a claim so they would report the claim here and we would report the claim to the overseas provider.

Innovation is essential for any company’s future survival. In a world that is exponentially more universal and competitive, innovation is crucial.  What is Guardian General Insurance doing to innovate and stay competitive?

I think P&C is a little different from Life. Life tends to be extremely innovative whereas P&C tends to be more traditional. So you have some original type policies, for example, motor. Given you can’t offer anymore than a motor policy, our innovation comes in the form of any additional services offered such as roadside assistance but they’re really bells and whistles.

On the property side, the issue is that we are in a catastrophe zone so a lot of what we insure we reinsure so that goes offshore and we don’t retain it. Motor, if you get it right, retains a lot of the premium income and it can be very profitable.

We’re also doing things with the Group because again that is part of the benefit of being with a large group. For example, cyber crime is now quite a big issue and the Group is looking at a product to insure this type of exposure. I’m not aware of anyone else in the market doing this. We’re also looking at launching an aviation product that the group has been able to organize.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a valuable way for companies to give back to the communities in which they work. What CSR projects is Guardian General Insurance engaged in?

We have not done CSR well but we are working to fix this as it’s important to give back to society. We are working on a project for 2015, particularly a concept that will help to protect our children. So maybe we go into a school and do a risk assessment and find that the children are at risk because they need a new fence. Risk assessment and safety tie in with our product so that’s the concept but we haven’t ironed it out totally. One thing I did do when I came here was improve the physical surroundings of the building.

The readers of Harvard Business Review include many of the world’s most influential business and political leaders. What message would you like to send them?

Jamaica is turning out to be a success story. When you have choices you will always I think choose the easy route so when you hit rock-bottom you have no other choices but to make the difficult choice. I think we have made difficult choices and are implementing them. I think we underestimate the debt the entire country owes to the civil service, for example, to go five years without a salary increase, which I think is phenomenal. I think when you speak to everybody, no matter whether they see things through orange or green tinted glasses, for the first time they agree that we need growth and that we are on the right path.