Insurance

In global terms, T&T ranks as a small but well established market for insurance. According to figures from the Association of T&T Insurance Companies, general insurers wrote gross premiums of around $494.1m in 2013, while life and health insurers wrote gross premiums of about $524.3m. Over the previous five years, the general trends in profitability have been favourable. Life insurance companies’ expense ratio declined from 40.6% in 2009 to 36.4% in the period to September 2013, while return on equity for general insurance firms increased from 16.7% to 18.6%. At 3.7% in 2013, insurance penetration in T&T is broadly in line with regional averages, suggesting further room for growth. A new insurance bill set to be passed in the near term will incorporate a minimum continuing capital and surplus requirement regime, and contribute to the strengthening of the industry’s legal framework. This chapter contains an interview with Ravi Tewari, Group CEO, Guardian Holdings.